A Different Kind of Septiplier
by MissLadyUmbra
Summary: Cliche "They met in high school" Cliche "One of them doesn't like people and the other one tries to get them to open up" Cliche "angsty violence and depression" But is everything as cliche as it seems?
1. Chapter 1

Life has been a rut for Mark. Wake up at 7AM, be at school by 8AM, go to class, go home, do homework, shower, sleep, repeat. He's tried to get out of it many times; he even dyed his hair a bright red. But after 3 years, the gods have finally answered his prayers and blessed him with a new classmate. A new person to talk to and possibly a new friend to make! Only problem is, it's been a month and nothing's different.

Mark was quietly playing with his pencil between his fingers as Mr. Clutch lectured about the Pythagorean Theorem. He didn't want to know about the three sides of a triangle, he wanted to know more about the silent green-haired man at the back of the room. He turned around in his seat to look at him.

 _ **There was a soft knock on the door and Ms. Lemons paused to look out the window of the door. A man Mark's height with green hair walked into the room.**_

 _ **"Uh, hi. I'm Sean, the new student. Are you Ms. Lemons and is this Science class?" He asked in his Irish accent.**_

 _ **"Ah, yes, I was expecting you." She smiled and turned him around to look at the class, "Class, this is our new classmate Sean McLoughlin."**_

 _ **Everyone gave him a bored "Hi, Sean." Half of them waving weakly.**_

 _ **Ms. Lemons smiles again and turns her attention back to him, "Sean, you can sit wherever you like. There are no assigned seats."**_

 _ **"Thank you."**_

 _ **He avoided eye contact with everyone and went straight to the back row. The teacher continued where she left off and he was already taking notes in his journal.**_

Not a single word from him after that. Not even when he was insulted and shoved into the lockers by Jake. The times Mark thought about approaching him, he didn't look like he wanted to talk to anyone. He figured it was because he was in a new place and he was stressed out but his body language or facial expression never changed so he just never said anything.

Once the bell finally rang to signal the end of class, he pretended to try and get his stuff together as if it was truly a hassle just so he could walk with him to his next class. Once he felt that he stalled enough time and half the class was out of the room, he stood up and walked alongside the bothered-looking introvert. _'He probably just needs a friend.'_ He thought.

"Hey, Sean, right?" He started happily.

He received an emotionless, quick, glance. He took that as his way of saying 'hello' back.

"I'm Mark, I noticed that you were having a little trouble getting used to the school and thought I'd show you that it's not nearly as bad as you might think. We could do something together at lunch or recess if you'd like-" Sean opened his locker to switch out books and continued to his next class "- You could even come to my place tonight, I can help you with whatever homework you have and we can go see a movie or something-"

"Look," He stopped both of them in their tracks and finally made eye contact with him, "I get you're trying to be nice and friendly but I don't do the whole "friend" thing. I'm not into it, so please stop trying and leave me alone."

He disappeared into his Literature classroom and the door closed on Mark. He stood there for a few seconds before he finally went to his locker. _'How can somebody simply not "do the whole "friend" thing"?'_ Switching out books, he approached his own Literature class. He took the occasional note, while thinking about Sean in between. _'He says he doesn't do the whole "friend thing" but his eyes said something else.'_

"Mark!" Mrs. Kramer called startling him out of his thoughts, "In Chapter 25 of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", Huck Finn says he'll spend his fortune on things he enjoys. What does Tom say he'll spend it on?"

It took him a minute to clear his thoughts of green hair. "Uh…" He remembers never finishing the book and even wondered if he got that far to begin with. "Um… He… Wants to spend it on… food…?"

"Wrong! He said he would save it for his future marriage. This is something all of you should learn from. If you find yourself with a lot of money, save it for the important things in life otherwise you won't have what you need."

Mark slumped in his chair a little bit in mild embarrassment. Then felt a tap on his shoulder.

He turned around, "Didn't read it either, huh?" Bob asked quietly.

"I thought I did. I guess I was remembering a different book."

"Don't worry, I don't think anyone did."

He chuckled, feeling a little better, and turned his attention back to the front of the classroom. A folded piece of paper on his desk caught his attention. _'I don't remember folding anything.'_ He opened it to see poor handwriting saying,

 **Saw you talking to Sean earlier. Don't bother he's not friendly. I tried, too, and**

 **he was a little harsher with me than he was with you. He's not worth it.**

'" _He's not worth it"? But everyone's worth it and, you know what? Everyone deserves a friend.'_ He couldn't tell who sent him the note but it didn't matter. They were just unlucky with their attempt, and he was, too, but what that guy didn't have which Mark does is determination.

Once the bell rang, he was the first to leave the room to try and catch up with Sean. Grabbing his lunch bag from his locker and walking into the lunch room, he didn't see any sign of green hair and decided to find a seat now and call him over when he sees him. A few minutes later, Wade and Bob soon found their seats next to him and began to eat and talk. Mark was too trained on the door to focus on their conversation, only taking a bite of his sandwich every now and then. But after about 20 minutes, it was clear that he wasn't going to come in.

"Hey, have either of you seen Sean?" Mark asked his friends.

"I saw him walking down the hall but lost sight of him when he stopped at his locker to put away his book." Wade answered.

"Isn't he in your Literature class?" Bob asked.

"Yeah, real quiet dude. Almost scary. I once asked him for a pencil and he just looked at me a few seconds as though he was trying to decide whether or not to stab me with it. He handed me one and went right back to drawing in his notebook. Not a word. I was too nervous to hand it back to him after class."

"Did… Did you happen to try talking to him at one point?"

"Not after that, no. That was the only time. Why?"

He was going to ask about the note but quickly realized that it was handed to him DURING class. He would have had to be in the same room to give it to him. "Just curious." He grabbed his empty lunch bag and stood up, "I'm going to go see if he got lost on his way or something."

"You sure you want to do that?" Bob pulled out his phone to look at the time, "Lunch is going to end in about 5 minutes. I'm sure he found a spot somewhere in the hallway or something."

"I could at least find him and show him where it is for tomorrow so he can actually sit with us. Wade, why don't you give me his pencil and I'll hand it back to him when I see him."

"Be my guest."

He put the pencil in his pocket and began searching the hallways. He was about to check outside next until the bell rang. He put his lunch bag in the trash and went outside for recess. He sat under the tree he always spent his time at during recess and was about to write another entry in his journal when something green caught his attention. He looked up and saw Sean walking into the building. Taking a mental note of this, he made sure to remember coming outside during lunch tomorrow. When Sean disappeared, Wade and Bob appeared and went to go sit with Mark.

"Sean was eating outside?" Bob asked.

"Looks like it, I'll be sure to check here tomorrow." Mark replied.

"Are you sure you should even approach him?" Wade asked, "It doesn't look like he really wants any friends right now. Maybe he didn't get lost but actively avoided the lunch room."

"I actually talked to him this morning after second period and he told me himself that he doesn't "do the whole "friend" thing.""

"Well then there you go! Straight from his mouth, he doesn't want- wait, you actually had a conversation with him?"

"Well, not really a conversation. I approached him and said 'Hey, I'm Mark,' he looked at me, I started talking to him about coming to my place tonight and seeing a movie and he stops me saying he knows I'm trying to be friendly but he doesn't want it."

"Aaaaaaand you're going to ignore that and keep trying?"

"Not ignore it but play a little safer. Instead of just talking nonsense, I'll try asking him a question to get him talking, too."

"But… He said 'no.'"

"If my second try doesn't get me anywhere, then I'll leave him alone completely, I promise."

Bob covered his face with both hands then sighed. He took that as an 'okay do whatever you want.'

Wade started another topic and as the three of them talked, Mark would glance at the doors waiting for him to come back outside. When he did come back outside, he went straight to the fence to lean on it and put earphones in to cancel out the world. He watched his head bob slightly as he looked at the sky, the trees, and the students scattered around the area. Then they made eye contact. Sean looked away just as quickly and pretended he was more interested in his phone. Mark took that as his signal to try talking to him once more and stood up to do just that but before taking a step forward he saw Jake walk up to him first.

' _Oh no.'_

"Hey, tough guy." He taunted Sean.

"Hey, Jake, come on-" Mark started walking in their direction to stop what he knew was coming but Bob grabbed his wrist.

Mark looked down at him questioningly and he just shook his head telling him to just leave it be.

He tried to tug his arm back as his way of showing strong disagreement.

"Hey, bitch!"

The sudden shout kept Mark still as he whipped his head back around. He had yanked Jack's earphones out of his ears, "I'm talking to you!"

"I know you are," Sean replied glaring at him, "I just don't want to have anything to do with you."

He was grabbed by the collar in a flash, "Well too bad, because I want to do a lot of things to you."

He tugged on his arm harder but his large friend only held on tighter.

Sean finally had an expression other than anger and annoyance. Fear. He's shoved against the fence, "If you think you're so tough then why don't you try throwing a punch at me. C'mon, I dare you."

Sean looked flustered. Clearly never having thrown a punch before and debating whether or not he should do it anyway.

"C'mon," He let go then gave a firm shove to his shoulder and continued to do that every few seconds, "I know you can't. Admit it, you're not tough, you're just a fuckin' wannabe. You're just trash."

He and his friends laughed at the last remark. His expression was unreadable and Mark gave one last hard tug almost breaking free but begrudgingly accepted it.

"Right here," Jake pointed to his cheek, "You can't do it can you?"

Sean's hands clenched. Something was happening.

"I knew it, you couldn't do it-" Jake was knocked out cold.

After his body hit the ground, Sean stood there seething and Jake's friends quickly ran back inside to avoid his wrath. Once they had disappeared, Sean took a deep breath and looked down at his hands visibly shaking with alarming intensity. He stuffed them in his pockets and looked around seeing everybody's eyes on him with dropped jaws. Clearly everyone had and were all staring at him or Jake's body with dropped jaws. This was the part where he leaned back against the fence, put his earphones back in and pretended that nothing happened.

Mark gave Bob an angry look. "Told you I should I have intervened." Mark asked.

"What? You KNEW that was going to happen?" Bob replied.

"Not this exact thing but I knew someone was going to get hurt."

His arm was free and Mark debated on whether or not to check on Jake. After few seconds he slowly approached his body and gently shook him. "Hey, Jake, you okay?"

"Do you get it now?!"

Mark jumped at the sudden outburst and looked at Sean.

He watched the doors close behind him, _'What was that?'_

His focus was back on Jake he felt his shoulder move from under his hand. "Hey, man, how you feeling?"

With a groan he slowly stood up with Mark's help and rubbed his bruised cheek.

"You want me to take you to the Nurse or something?"

All he got was a glare and a, "Piss off." Then walked into the building. He walked in after him with his friends and grabbed the necessary items for History class from his locker. He closed it just as someone bumped into him. He turned and saw Sean staring back at him.

He looked startled, "Hey, are you okay?"

The response was an annoyed look, "Why are you asking me? Jackass over there was the one who got knocked out because of me."

Before Mark could say anything, Sean shoved him aside and disappeared into the crowd. He sighed and continued to his own class.

Mark sat down in his History class and decided to keep his mind off of Sean for a bit. He'll admit, he was mildly impressed with the amount of strength he had seeing as how thin he was but he was also concerned seeing how the smaller man seemed to have struggled with himself before he threw the punch. Like he was scared to throw the punch and couldn't stop himself.

He never saw Sean again until P.E. the last class of the day. He walked into the locker room to change into his gym clothes and turned a corner just in time to see him remove his shirt.

' _Wow, those bruises look really painful.'_

He put his gym shirt on and was adjusting it when Mark stepped up to the locker next to his.

"Hey, Sean." A glance in response, "I'm sorry if I was overwhelming you earlier. I was just trying to make you feel more welcome."

"I don't need your help, I'm fine." And with that he went straight to the gym.

Mark bit the inside of his mouth wondering what the best way was to talk to him and if that counted as attempt number two. _'Ah, I'll try again anyway.'_

"Good afternoon everyone!" Mr. Allen Called as he walked into the gym. "Today everyone will be paired up for warm-ups instead of going solo. So go find yourselves a partner and if you don't, I'll do it for you."

Everyone had found a partner and were waiting in an appropriate spot in the room. Bob and Wade became a pair which meant Mark could pair up with-

"You're the least annoying," He was suddenly grabbed by the arm by Jake and dragged away


	2. Chapter 2

Sean watched Mark and Jake walk off to a corner and turned around to see who was left to pair up with.

"Hey, we're the last ones left." He was startled by the blond man's voice, "Where we're standing will be a good spot, you ready to start your warm-ups?" He nodded yes.

"Alright, everyone have a partner? Sit on the floor and do 30 sit-ups!"

Mr. Allen did them as well while one person from every pair held their partner's feet down.

Sean was the first to start and his partner knelt down to hold his feet.

"Hey, Sean, you know I wasn't trying to upset you the other day, right?"

He didn't respond. Just kept doing his sit-ups.

"I just wanted to be your friend and I know you don't want them, but I don't want you to think you don't deserve them. You really do seem really cool and I just want to get to know you."

"If you truly believe that and the rumors really haven't started spreading yet look at Jakes face." He finally snapped at him.

The blond looked and saw the giant purple bruise on his cheek.

"Shit. That was you?"

Nothing.

"That's really impressive. I didn't take you to be the fighting type. To be honest, he had it coming. He's just an ass. I don't know what his deal is."

Still nothing.

"C'mon, man, I'm trying to make an effort to get on your good side. I don't want to see you go through high school alone, high school is hell and you need a friend to help you through it."

"I don't need any help. I did my thirty it's your turn."

They switched and no more words were exchanged throughout the rest of their warm-ups. Which was a little awkward.

"Alright, let's all go outside and start our daily jog." The teacher followed behind his students as we started on the jogging track.

"H-Hey, Sean," someone huffed.

Sean internally sighed.

"Just thought I'd check on you. You had a rough start at this school a month ago and today you had a nasty run-in with Jake. I also saw you talking to Felix. What do you think of him?"

"Why are you fucking talking to me?" He snapped.

"Sean McLoughlin! Language!" Mr. Allen called from behind.

"Because I want to."

Sean's eyes squinted.

"If you're talking about earlier today I… You're not a monster."

His face changed from a scowl to interest.

"You were pushed to the edge by a… a classmate. Anyone would snap like that. That doesn't mean you're a monster, it means you're human."

He rolled his eyes and looked ahead again.

"Alright! Let's go take a shower and end class for today."

They all happily went back inside to take their showers. He walked out a few minutes later with a towel around his waist and a towel on his head, drying his hair. As his did he checked himself in the mirror and saw the bruises around his torso. _'Shit, I forgot about that.'_

"Hey, wannabe trash, I have some things to say to you."

A quiet growl left his throat and he pulled the towel over his face. _'Can't I be alone for thirty minutes?!'_

"I'm talking to you, you piece of shit!" The towel was yanked to the floor and his hair was grabbed, "No one treats me like that. You don't get to punch me and live."

"You begged me to-" Sean's sentence was cut short when Jake shoved his head against the wall and wrapped his hands around his neck.

Sean's hands immediately grabbed at the digits restricting air flow as his body tried desperately to break free. It didn't take long before his vision started to swim but he refused to call for help. He refused to look weak. His windpipe suddenly opened and he gasped for air, crumpling to the floor and coughing as his vision came back. He looked up just in time to see Jake run out of the locker room and saw Mark rush to his side.

"Sean! Are you okay?"

He jumped away from him before he could get close, Catching a glimpse of his own penis in his peripheral vision and fought the urge to blush.

"Sean?"

He stood up and went straight for the exit, picking up his towel and putting it back around his waist again. "Put some clothes on for fuck's sake."

Once showers were taken and things were gathered, Mr. Allen told them all goodbye and they left the building. Sean stepped outside into fresh air and inhaled deeply then let it out in a sigh with a smile. _'Better enjoy it while it lasts.'_ He began his trek home feeling nice and refreshed to watch the school slowly disappear behind him. He looked at all the buildings towering over him and the cars zooming passed him. Daydreaming of the day when he can just walked out into a car of his own and drive off to start a new life. Live comfortably in a place he can call home and find happiness… hopefully…

"Hey, Sean, mind if I talk to you?"

And just like that, the stress was back. He stopped and turned around. "You're like a mosquito. Why can't you back off the first time I try to swat you away?"

"Because this isn't you."

He felt rigid. Why? What about his words affected me so much?

"How the hell do you know I'm not myself?! You've known me for a month!"

"…" Nothing. Just as he thought.

Sean continued.

"So, what? You're a fuckin' psychic now or something?"

"I… I just want to be your friend. It baffles me that you would even say that you don't want friends."

He felt something familiar in his chest. Is that happiness? No, now's not the time. "Just… stay away from me, okay?"

Mark wasn't allowed another thought before the trek home continued.

"Mark! Hey! Over here!"

Another sigh, "Finally! Thanks stranger.


	3. Chapter 3

Felix was calling him over. Looking back at Sean, he knew that he tried one too many times and he just needed to let it go. Once Mark was within reach, Felix wrapped his arm around his neck and ruffled his hair.

"Hey, Markimoo! We haven't hung out in ages let's do that tonight! Video games and movies and food!" He pumped his fists into the air.

"I'm up for that!" Wade called.

"Count me in!" Bob followed.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun. Can we invite Sean as well?" Mark asked.

Felix froze and looked behind him where Sean was walking in the opposite direction. "You got my note, right?" He asked quietly.

Mark pried himself from Felix's headlock, "You wrote that?"

"Yep, I even tried again today thinking I just came off a little strong last time but nothing was different. I mean it man; he's just not worth the effort."

Mark gently chewed on the inside of his mouth in thought, looking where Sean was last before he disappeared. Not wanting to believe it but also knowing that they were probably right. He's very serious about not having any friends.

"I'm sorry, Mark," Bob started, "But at least you tried."

"Now how about those games, movies and food?!" Wade shouted enthusiastically.

Mark chuckled at the enthusiasm and decided that this was probably what he needed to keep his mind off of everything. "Yeah! Games, movies and food!" He cheered pumping his fists in the air.

The walk was filled with laughter and ideas for tonight. What to eat, where to go, what to play, it was certainly turning into more than just games, movies and food.

Once the door to Felix's house was open, Mark made sure he was first inside just so he could launch himself onto the couch, taking up all spots with his body.

"You're not seriously taking up all those spots, are you?" Wade asked.

"I don't know, I'm pretty comfy." He turned onto his back and put his hands behind his head. Just as he did Bob sat down on his legs.

"Ah! Don't turn me into an ostrich!"

"Then you might want to get up because I'm not moving."

"Ugh, fine. At least let me just reposition myself."

Bob stood up and Mark flipped over so he was face down on a pillow. "Okay, you guys can sit down now." His voice was muffled.

"You're going to let us sit on you?"

"Yep. Because I want to lie down."

He felt Bob sit back down on his calves. "Is something wrong?"

"Just a long day. A lot of thinking, a lot of work, a lot of trying."

"I'm sorry your day was hard on you." Someone sat on his ass, he guessed it was Wade since he was just talking.

It was soon followed by Felix's laugh then, "Comfortable, Mark?"

"Why, yes I am, thank you for asking." He finally moved his head to see the TV just in time to watch Felix's pants lower itself onto his face.

"Ah! Ah! Oh god! Get off! Get your balls off of my face!"

He stood back up and everyone began laughing really hard. "Well, where do I sit then?"

"On the floor like a good host. You have a bowl of popcorn anyway, those who have popcorn need to sit in front of everyone without blocking the screen."

"If you're going to make me sit on the floor then I'm taking the pillow."

The fabric created friction against his face turning his cheek red as it was yanked out from under him.

"But I was comfy!" Mark fake whined.

"Oh, you're fine. You've got your friends sitting on you."

He dropped the pillow onto the floor, set the bowl down and went to go open his movie drawer. "I think we agreed on a drinking game with all the Harry Potter movies and then "Mirrors"."

Everyone nodded excitedly.

"Cool!" He put the first movie in and turned on the TV. "I'll go get our shot glasses. What kind of alcohol should we drink?"

"Got any Jack Daniels?" Bob called.

"Yes I do! I'll get Coke to go with it."

He walked back into the room and set down four shot glasses on the coffee table with the drinks within reach. He then opened a drawer to take out a santa hat and put it on top of the TV.

Once he sat down on the pillow the game had begun. Whenever someone was "wearing" the hat they had to take a shot. Several shots later we were a little tipsy.

We reached the scene where Harry had found the mirror which displayed his parents standing with him.

Felix started laughing, "Oh man, that reminds me of today when I went into the bathroom and some guy was shouting at his reflection like he was arguing with himself."

Mark laughed as he poured himself another shot, "That's so weird. Who was it?"

"You know him. The… The green douchebag. Whatever his name was."

Mark was suddenly very sober and choked on half his shot. He coughed for a full minute before continuing. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. You mean Sean?"

"Yeah, him. There's something wrong with that guy."

"What did he say?"

"I didn't get all of it, I just caught "It's because of you I don't have any friends." Then he noticed me and quickly left the bathroom. Why are you asking so many questions about him? He's not worth it, man, just enjoy here and now."

Mark of course was not going go through the rest of the night knowing this piece of information. He didn't know what he could do with it but it was still something new about the man he so desperately wanted to know more about.


	4. Chapter 4

Sean sat as his desk staring at his history homework. Not at all interested in writing an essay on WW2. He pulled his hands away from the keyboard and gave one long stretch.

"Better get that homework done, Jackaboy." He said chuckling.

Sean snarled at his demon standing behind him. "That name is dead and you know it."

"I don't know, I quite like it, I think I'd like to keep it alive. After all, your loved ones called you that once."

Sean's pupils shrunk from the comment. "Why would you bring that up?! There's no need!"

"But I'm hungry, and you know I feed on anger."

He stepped closer and gave one long lick to his neck. He shivered away from him, "Why can't you feed off of someone else? I'm sure there's someone out there who has more anger than me."

"Perhaps. But they're not nearly as fun. I don't just want to feed, I want to have fun."

"I'm not having fun, asshole!"

"And that's what makes it so much more delicious."

Sean stood up and knocked his chair over, "I DIDN'T SUMMON YOU JUST SO I COULD BE YOUR PUPPET!"

He threw a punch to hurt the transparent doppelganger but missed and hit the wall. He pulled away and hugged his fist to his chest shouting a swear in pain. He suddenly hears footsteps running up the stairs and braced for what he knew would come.

The door burst open and in came his father. "What the hell was that?!"

"It's Anti! I fucking swear it! He's-" He looked around the room but he wasn't anywhere to be found, "- He's real! I'm not seeing things!"

He ran to the closet and moved everything from one end to the other trying desperately to find him.

"You punched a hole in the wall?!"

He jumped and stood up straight. "Y-Yeah. I missed."

"Son, you're out of control. We've paid a lot of money to fix everything you've broken. Both in the house and in you and now, because of you, we can't visit Florida like your mother wanted. Get yourself straightened out so we can finally be a damn normal family!" His father's palm connected with his cheek, "We moved you to a new school to do exactly this and you're screwing it up! Take a damn pill!" He threw the pill bottle at him and left the room.

Sean just barely caught the bottle. Once he heard the slam of his door closing, he looked at the bottle and sat on the bed defeated.

"Depression isn't nearly as appetizing but I'll take it."

Sean growled. "What's the damn ritual to get you to leave me?!"

"Sorry, hon, but you know the agreement. Once you trade your soul for a demon replacement, there is no reversing it."

He pulled at his hair momentarily before rubbing his cheek. He took another deep breath, put the bottle on the nightstand, and went to the bathroom. He looked himself in the mirror seeing a red handprint on his cheek and a small bruise where his father's ring connected with his skin.

' _We brought you into this world and this is how you repay us?! You ungrateful brat!'_

He winced at the memory of his father whipping him with his belt. He pulled down his pants to look at his thigh where the belt hit him. It was a couple of weeks ago and the bruise was still kind of there. Still sore of course. He pulled his pants back up looking himself in the mirror again. Opening the cabinet and slowly picking up a razor blade, he debated with himself.

' _Suicide isn't the answer. But I can't find any other escape route. There's another way, I know it.'_

"You can't do it."

He looked at his demon sitting on the counter.

"You've never been able to succeed and you've been doing this for a few years now. So many trials and errors. You'd think you'd get the hang of it by now."

He bit the inside of his cheeks to keep from shouting at him again.

"You know I'm not going to help you destroy my favorite vessel."

He pulled his sleeve and bracelets up his arm to look at the many attempts he's made. _'Maybe just a little.'_

He brought the blade to his wrist.

"Sean! Dinner!"

He quickly put the razor blade up and closed the cabinet. "Coming!" He called as he pushed his bracelets and sweater sleeve back down while rushing down the stairs.

Dinner was quiet.

"So Sean," His mother finally spoke up, "how was school today? Did you make any friends yet?"

"Uh…" He wanted to say that he doesn't want friends but realized that would probably make his mother sad and then thought about Mark, "I… I think I have, yeah. We talk a lot about plans."

"Oh, lovely! Well, let him know that we'd love to have him- Goodness, Sean, what happened to your face?" She leaned over to brush her thumb over the small bruise.

He glanced at his father to see him glaring in warning. "I… That loud noise you heard earlier? I, um, fell and hit my face on the computer chair."

She sat back down, "Yikes. You should get some Ice on that. Maybe some painkillers. That reminds me. Did you take your medication earlier?"

He stopped mid-chew on his steak. Suddenly feeling nauseous. "… Y-Yeah. I took it before I came to the table." Finally swallowing his bite.

"Okay, good."

"May I be excused?" He asked almost urgently.

"You barely touched your food. Are you feeling sick?" She touched his forehead.

"S-Something like that I suppose."

"Well I'll be sure to bring soup and medicine upstairs for you in a few minutes. Go lay in bed for a little while."

"Okay. Thanks mom." He stood up and walked away from the table. Once he got to the stairs he jogged as quickly as he could without attracting attention.

He closed himself off in his room and laid in bed like his mother asked. He heard the pill bottle being picked up.

"Rexulti. Brexpiprazole tablets. 30 tablets. Take one orally every day. Ouch. But what can you do when they can't see what it is you're yelling at."

"I don't need a reminder."

"Oh, come on, I'm not THAT bad. I'm like a permanent friend of yours."

"If you're a friend then why don't you start acting like it?"

"It's not as fun as it sounds."

His stomach growled and his face scrunched up in discomfort. He flipped over and stuffed his face in his pillow to be lost in his thoughts. Which was probably not the smartest idea because now he's thinking about his current situation with his parents and his demon. A tear would escape every now and then only to be soaked up by the pillow.

' _You're such a disappointment.'_

' _I don't get what your problem is, I really don't.'_

' _This isn't you.'_

The tears stopped.

' _Hey, Sean, right? I'm Mark.'_

' _You're not a monster, you're human.'_

' _I just want to be your friend. It baffles me that you would even say that you don't want friends.'_

He sat up and sighed. He may hate everything and everyone but it's hard to hate Mark for some reason. Which only makes it worse because losing him is going to hurt more than the physical abuse


	5. Chapter 5

Mark made it to school much earlier than usual and was even the first to walk into the building. Hallways completely empty and nothing to be heard except teachers walking around getting things together to start the day.

He was about to open his locker when he saw a dark figure disappear around the corner. He figured it was a teacher but he went to check anyway. He saw a familiar shape standing with his back turned.

"Sean? You're here early, too?"

It was suddenly quiet. Almost deafening. Then a sound slowly grew in volume. Sean slowly turned around, revealing his own face and a transparent version of his face next to him. The sound was white noise. Seemingly coming from nowhere.

Teachers continued to walk around him as if nothing was there.

"S-Sean? What's going on? Are you okay?"

He didn't say anything, just stared at me. Until his face lost color then he turned back around.

"Sean? Let me help you." He walked forward and put a hand on his shoulder.

He jolted awake on the couch. He looked around and saw his friends asleep on the floor. He sat up, quickly feeling the hangover, and reached for the remote to turn off the TV before he gathered his things and went home.

Walking through the door his mother was quick to greet him,"Hey, honey, How were Felix, Bob and Wade? You guys have fun?" She asked from the kitchen.

He rubbed his head, "They're doing great. Sorry I didn't come home sooner last night, I got caught up with a lot of movies and alcohol."

"There's school this morning. You shouldn't be drinking the night before school."

"I know. It wasn't supposed to go this far. It was just supposed to be a few shots then play games but we never got to the games. I'm sorry, mom, it won't happen again, I promise."

"I sure hope you promise that because I'm rather upset with you right now. Go do your homework then get ready for the day. You have two hours before school starts."

"Okay."

He went upstairs and set his backpack on the floor, taking his homework out to get started on it. He was almost done when he got stuck on a particularly hard math question.

He stole a glance at the clock. "I have to leave in 30 minutes. I think I can take a quick break."

He pulled out his phone to browse twitter, chuckling at various tweets saying what happened in a game they were playing or feeling sad when someone expresses remorse for the less fortunate, then coming across a tweet with nothing but 'penis' and realizing just how childish he was when he laughs at it. Another look and he notices the "Replying to Jack_Septic_Eye" note.

"That's an odd name. Cool profile pic though, I wonder if he made that."

He tapped to see this person's tweet they had replied to.

"'Finish the sentence: I wish I had a' blank."

He decided to read some more of their tweets, laughing at some of them and smiling at the inspirational ones. Until he found a tweet with a face.

"S-Sean?"

He tapped on the "photos and videos" link to see Sean in nearly every one of them. Tapping on a video, it was indeed still the same face and the same voice. He even sounded happy and energetic in it.

"I didn't know he had a twitter. With 500 followers? That's pretty cool."

He took a picture of the twitter page and sent it to his friends in text.

A few minutes later receiving a, "Huh, I'm honestly surprised." From Bob,

"He's not as bad as I thought." From Wade,

And a, "… I'm having trouble believing this." From Felix

Mark was starting to grow tired of Felix's attitude. "What else could it be?" He replied.

"I don't know something doesn't feel right."

"What about it doesn't feel right?! Everyone's different in front of a huge crowd. Have you tried being yourself in front of a lot of people? He has over 500 followers!"

"If that's the case, then why would he be an ass at school but be the happiest person on social media?"

"Probably because he prefers social media over real life."

He paused before he hit send then erased the message. Something really didn't feel right. So it looks like Mark wasn't too far from the truth when he told the Irish man he wasn't himself. But which persona was the real him?

He stopped his thought process when he remembered his homework. He didn't even look at the clock, he just when straight back into work and finished the last question before shoving his homework in his back and quickly leaving his house to go to school.

He ran into first period and sat down in the first desk he saw. Fighting the urge to vomit from running with an awful hangover.

"Hey, Mark, I see you've made a big mistake already." Felix said rubbing his face.

"What do you mean?"

"You ran with a hangover. Did you run the whole way?"

"Pretty much."

The blond swede gave a pity chuckle, "Good luck with the rest of your day, then."

"Are you telling me you didn't run?"

"Nope, I woke up at 6, knew there was no way in hell I was doing my homework and making it here on time by walking, so I just woke up Wade and Bob and went straight to school."

"Ms. Flint is NOT going to like you guys today."

"Better than feeling nauseous all day."

Mark swallowed from the comment, noticing ill feeling.

He suddenly remembered Sean and went to the back of the room to set his plan in motion.

"Why are you sitting way back there?" Felix asked.

"I'm hoping Sean will sit next to me."

"What? Why? Didn't you already try talking to him twice?"

"Yeah, I did, that's why I'm going to have him talk to me this time."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"Everyone! Please be seated!" Ms. Lemons called walking into the room.

Felix sat up straight facing the front of the classroom and Sean soon walked into the room. He didn't seem to pay Mark any attention as usual, sitting in his favorite seat which just so happened to be next to the hungover man and went straight to doodling in his notebook when the lecture began. A few minutes into the class, Mark made sure to make it obvious that he was reaching for his phone then casually looking through it. Typing Sean's twitter page into the search bar, he glanced at him but he didn't seem to notice anything. He cleared his throat a little and scrolled through his tweets. Glancing again, he still hadn't looked up. This time he waited a couple of minutes before gently pushing his pen off the desk in his direction.


	6. Chapter 6

Sean heard something fall to the ground hearing a small 'whoops' in response. He looked to the floor thinking he dropped something without knowing and saw Mark reaching for his pen. Light was shining in his face and his heart pounded.

' _He… He found my twitter account?'_

They made eye contact when he sat back up. The smaller man wanted to ask about it, but he had to keep to his promise. No friends.

His phone buzzed when his classmate tapped the "follow" button.

He could feel a blush creep up on him and quickly looked away before it was noticeable, continuing his drawings and getting his mind off of it.

Blue eyes were soon engrossed with the drawing, inspiration and emotion being projected perfectly from each line made. A Grim Reaper was displayed and a new page was ready. It was in that moment the disturbed artist's hand shook from the sudden buzz in his pocket, ruining that first stroke. The notification was ignored and the line was erased to start anew. Walls, a door, windows, another buzz, drawing an unintentional mark through the garden. Sean placed the pen firmly onto his desk with a noticeable 'thunk' and turned to Mark with a huff. He just smiled and tapped the heart on one of his tweets. Causing another buzz. The annoyed man simply moved his phone from his pocket to his bag before getting back to his drawing.

The class had ended and the next one was already beginning. He just had to get through Math and then he was free from the pestering man-child until later in the day and boy was he looking forward to it. Not a single word was registered as details were put into place and so far, not a single disturbance was felt again. He could continue with his decrepit, depressing old house without anything-

Vomit flooded his desk, dripping onto his pants and shirt as well as his messenger bag on the floor.

"AAAAH!" He jumped out of his seat in pure disgust, fighting the urge to gag, "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Had this guy seriously made himself vomit to get his attention?

"Sean! Language!" Mr. Clutch barked, "Mark, are you okay?"

He wiped his mouth and spoke, "Yeah, I'm fine. May I go to the nurse?"

"Of course. Sean will help you there."

"NO I FUCKING WON'T!"

"And you can walk yourself to the principal's office after doing so."

The green man fought the urge to scream and instead let out a loud growl. He then grabbed Mark's arm to escort him out of the room and to the nurse's office.

"I'm really sorry I ruined your drawings, they looked really good. I can buy you new stuff if that'll make it up."

Sean was far too angry to even look at his fiery hair. In the nurse's office the nurse looked both of them over.

"Mark! You look awful! Go lay on that bed, and Sean, what's bothering you?"

"This asshole! He's ruined everything I've worked hard for!"

"I'm afraid I can't fix that. But are you feeling sick at all?"

He took a deep breath then turned away. "No." He grumbled.

He did as he was told and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Opening the door, the first thing he did was sit in the chair in front of the large desk.

"Sean? You've only been here a month and you're already in trouble?"

"Yeah. I swore too much."

"Ah. Well, you haven't been here for very long so I'll let you off with a warning. Next time you'll have detention."

"Fine."

"While you're in my office, how has the school been treating you?"

"Like… crap."

"I'm sorry to hear. What's wrong?"

"Mark won't back off."

"Mark Fischbach? I promise you he's harmless. What is he doing?"

"He keeps trying to talk to me, getting my attention any way he can."

"I can definitely see how that can be disruptive and annoying. I'll have a talk with him about it. Is he still in his classroom?"

"No, he's in the nurse's office because it was a good idea to purposefully vomit on me as you can see." He pointed to the spots on his clothes.

"Purposefully? That doesn't sound like him at all. Go back to class and I'll be sure to talk to Mark before he goes to his next class."

"Thanks." He abruptly gets up and leaves for his classroom. Once he stepped through the doorframe the class had ended and everyone was leaving. He was about to approach his desk for his things but remembered that he would have to dig for it and he wasn't about to get close to any of it. Instead he just went straight to Literature class without his book.

A mind-numbing hour later, he happily left the room to grab his lunch bag from his locker and find a spot in the yard to eat. He looked into his lunch bag and of course, luck would have it, there was nothing inside except for a note.

 **Remember, you can't leave food out in the open like that or I'll have to eat it.**

 **Better luck next time, Champ! –Dad**

He groaned and bowed his head as he pulled his hair in defeated frustration _'Again…'_ He stuffed the empty bag in his pocket and leaned against the fence. He reached into his pocket and- He left his phone in his bag. "God-fucking-dammit! Come on!" He kicked the fence behind him then slid to the ground. He debated on whether he should take on the rest of the day or just go straight home without a word. Home sounded really nice, even with his dad there.

His thoughts were interrupted by his hunger. He put his arm on his abdomen to muffle the rest of the noises it was going to make and lowered his head to rest it on his knees. Immediate regret when he smelled the vomit on himself. Now he really wanted to go home.

The doors open and Mark goes to sit at his tree. Reaching into his lunch bag and pulling out a sandwich. Sean's stomach growled and he pressed his arm against his abdomen hoping Mark didn't hear it. He wasn't even going to check to see if he was looking.

Mostly because he didn't have to. "Here ya go!"

He turned just in time to see a small bag and catch it at the last second.

Cheetos. He tossed him a bag of Cheetos.

"Why don't you come sit with me?" Mark patted a spot next to himself. "You look like you want to ask me something. And I also want to apologize properly for earlier."

He battled with himself for a second. Break his promise and possibly lose him soon after? Or keep his promise and wish he had become friends with the guy who tried so hard?

"I bet it has something to do with your twitter, right?"

He spoke before he could stop himself, "Uh, yeah, kind of. How did you find it?"

"Come sit and I'll tell you."

He sighed and went to go sit with him, opening the bag of Cheetos.

"I found it while I was browsing last night and saw that a person I followed replied to a tweet of yours and decided to see what it was they were replying to."

Sean just nodded and put a Cheeto in his mouth.

"It was a little confusing at first because all I could see was 'penis' as the tweet." He tried to hold back laughter, putting another Cheeto in his mouth, "You're profile pic is cool by the way, did you make that?"

He sat there for a second, wondering if he should just walk away right now.

"Pleeeeease talk to me?" He turned his attention to a pair of puppy dog eyes, "You have to admit, I've been trying rather hard starting yesterday."

He sighed, "Alright, I'll bite. I give up. You want me to talk? Fine. But don't get mad me if you realize later it was a bad idea."

"I promise."

"I made it on the computer."

"Nice! So you're a computer guy?"

"On some level, yeah. Mostly games."

"I love games! What games do you play?"

"PS4 games like "GTA 5" and "Little Nightmares.""

""GTA 5" is awesome! My friends and I play that together so often! You should play that with us, that game is better with friends. What's "Little Nightmares"? That sounds new."

"It is. It came out recently; I don't know what's going on yet, though."

For once, Sean felt alive, distracted from his depressing life, happy to talk about the things he enjoyed. His responses became longer with more enthusiasm and he was smiling for the first time in so long.

The bell rang for recess and everyone went outside, shocked to see the once so-quiet-and-threatening man talking and laughing with Mark. Even Jake looked stunned. Wade and Bob slowly walked up to them with dropped jaws as if they were unsure if it was safe.

"Wade! Bob! We were just talking about our experiences with "GTA 5"! Come join us!" Mark said happily.

They stood there for a second, the request soon registering, and they smiled going over to sit with them to join the hilarious conversation. The rest of the day felt like the first day of his life.

The fun ended all too soon when the bell rang for next class and Sean had to say goodbye to Mark for now. Before he went to the computer room he peeked into his math/science class and saw his desk thoroughly cleaned and his notebook gone.

He reluctantly picked up his bag still spotted with stomach fluids, "Mr. Clutch? What happened to my notebook?"

"I'm so sorry, Sean, but it was absolutely drenched. There was no salvaging it and I didn't think you would want it with the state it was in so I threw it away."

He sighed and nodded, "Alright, thanks anyway."

"You're welcome. Have a good rest of the day."

"You too."

He walked into the computer room and started up the monitor as he waited for the teacher. Bob soon walked in and sat next to him. "Hey Sean."

"Hey Bob, how's your day been so far?"

"Quite eventful. Your scuffle with Jake earlier today was the most interesting."

"Oh yeah. That was pretty intense. I hope it doesn't happen again, through."

"I'm with you on that, I'd hate for my new friend to be squashed by an asshole."

The response was laughter. That is until a familiar voice shouted, "What'd you call me, bitch?!"

The laughter stopped on a dime and they hid their faces. But it was too late when Bob's shirt was grabbed and he was forcibly pulled to his feet.

"Are you sure you want to call me an asshole, fatass?"

Sean stood up and tried to push Jake away, "C'mon, Jake, we don't want to cause any trouble right now."

"Don't worry, I'm taking care of it."

He pulled his fist back to throw a hard punch at Bob's face and before anything happened he could already feel judgement melt away and lifted a hand to do damage to him first.

"The three of you! Stop this instant or I'll have you all in detention!"

His judgement came crashing back and Bob was soon released. They quickly sat down in their seats without another word.

Gym class finally rolled around and Sean opened his locker to put on the proper clothes he needed.

"Hey, man, how were your classes?"

"Hey, Mark, they went okay. Little bit of Jake drama though."

"What happened?"

"We were talking about him behind his back and he caught us but only when after Bob. Nobody was hurt, though."

"That's good."

Mark was about to remove his shirt until he saw the bruises again. "Hey, Sean, can I ask you something? Feel free to ignore it."

"Alright, go ahead."

"Where did you get those bruises from?"

He stood there silently debating on whether or not he should say something now or give it more time. Nah, it's too soon for that kind of confession.

"Uh… I'm just really clumsy is all," he chuckled, "I'm always running into tables, chairs, doorframes, you name it." He quickly put his shirt on, closed the locker door, and went straight to the gym before he could ask any more questions.

After school, Sean was already making his way home, taking another deep inhale of the fresh air, daydreaming of his new life, when Mark called him back.

"Wait! I forgot to apologize to you about earlier today!"

He stopped and turned around watching his half-Asian friend chase after him, "It's okay you don't have to."

Mark stopped in front of him and took a few seconds to catch his breath before speaking again, "I kind of have to because I ruined your hard work as well as your clothes and your bag."

He looked down at himself and covered his face in embarrassment. The spots were still there. How had he forgotten about them?

"I also want to specify that it wasn't at all on purpose to get your attention and I'm sorry for bothering you so much. What had happened was I got really drunk last night and I ran to school the next morning with a bad hangover. I was trying to make it to the trash can before it was too late but the second I stood up it just… happened. I had no idea how bad it was and I wasn't being cautious."

"Really? What were you drinking?"

"Jack Daniels. We were playing a drinking game and we had taken more shots than we thought we had."

"Alright. Well, there is a way to make it up to me."

"All over it. New clothes, bag and notebook."

"That's one way, but I have something else in mind." He winked at him with a mischievous grin.

"Oh? Like what?"

"You play a drinking game of my own. You don't have to win but you do have to drink with me."

"Alright, when does the game start?"

"Tonight while playing GTA 5. Ask the guys if they want to join us. The more the merrier!"

He laughed, "That sounds awesome! I'll let you know when everything's set tonight."

"Cool! I'll talk to you tonight then."

"See you tonight, Sean!" he said as he jogged back to his friends.

The trip home began once more with a bounce in his step. Entering the house, his mother was the first to notice his good mood, "Welcome home, sweetie! My, my, you're quite happy this evening."

Sean hugged her tight from where she was on the couch, almost spilling her herbal tea, "I made three friends today and now I don't have a care in the world!" He shouted to the sky.

"That's excellent, honey! I'm so glad you made that many friends today! What are their names? Maybe you can invite them over tomorrow and we could meet them."

He righted himself and his smile almost disappeared. The thought of them seeing the life he lives was NOT ideal. He sat on the couch next to her.

"Um, I don't know if they'd be able to. They're normally really busy with their own lives so having them come visit even for a few hours might not work with them."

"Oh, that's a shame. What are they so busy with?"

"Uh, family stuff, chores, homework, school, that sort of thing."

"Well, be sure to ask them anyway so in case they happen to have an opening in their busy schedules, they can call or text you saying so and we can set things up."

"I'll be sure to do that," He smiled and stood back up, "I'm going to go start my homework."

"Alright, I'll call you for dinner later. I love you, Sean!"

"Love you, too, mom!"

He went into his room, snagging his father's whisky on the way, set his bag down on the desk, and closed his door.

"Oooh, new toys to play with. What happened to the whole "no friends" thing?"

He whipped around to see his demon leaning against the wall near him, "Shut up, Anti, you're not doing shit to them."

"I don't think you have a say in that. I get to do whatever I want as long as I follow through with the orders I was given when I was summoned. That was the deal, right?"

"Let me keep these friends, at least for god's sake! I haven't been this carefree in two years. I've been drowning in depression and loneliness for so long, just leave them alone for once in your fucking miserable life!"

"Hey, now. Any louder and your father will throw you those pills again."

He couldn't respond, just clench his hands and press his knuckles against his forehead, growling in frustration. He went to go sit down on the bed and buried his face in the pillow after setting the whisky on his nightstand.

"Tell you what. I'll let you have your fun, play with your little friends however you like, and when your turn is up, I'll take my turn next and play with them however I want to."

"You play with them and you won't ever see them again. They'll just run away from me." His voice came muffled.

"Maybe, but there's a possibility they might not. Who knows, maybe they're the fantasy friends who never leave you but accept you for the monster you are."

He lifted his head to look at the translucent copy, "If they stay with me after what you do to them, that would be Stockholm syndrome. You're not just mean, you're psychotic."

"Well it's all up to them to stay or leave, isn't it?"

He just shook his head and stood up, "I'm going to start my homework."

He dug into his bag pulling out the sheets of literature and science homework given to him, burying himself in work to ignore his darker half. He just finished his literature homework and was about to start science when he heard his phone go off. The screen read, " markiplier tweeted at you!"

'' markiplier'? Where did he get that from?'

He unlocked his phone to read what he said, " Jack_Septic_Eye Hey, Jackaboy! Come join us for some "GTA 5"!"

He smiled and responded as a message, "Of course! My PS4 name is jacksepticeye"

Receiving the friend request, he accepted it and joined a multiplayer game with the three of them. It didn't take long before they were howling with laughter with everything that was going on.

"So what are the rules to your drinking game?"

"Every time you die, take a double shot."

"A double shot?! Sean, I have Vodka!" Wade called through team speak.

"Wow, you don't fuck around, do you Wade? Alright, you don't have to take a double shot."

"I'm drinking Bloody Oath." Mark chimed in.

"And I'm drinking Guignolet. What are you drinking, Sean?"

"I'm drinking Jameson."

"Irish whisky for the Irish green bean. Perfect choice!"

Everyone laughed and the game had begun.

"Hey Wade"

"Yeah Mark?"

There was an explosion.

"No! You asshole! Now I have to take a shot!"

This continued for a while, killing each other constantly to see who would end up drinking the most shots. It wasn't long before everyone was drunk enough to where Sean had to stop everyone.

"'angon! 'angon! Imma take a….. picture fer…. Twitter and Instagram and tumblr."

"Oh, dude, you go' them accounts, too? Whaddo you not have."

Sean took his picture of his TV screen with his face at the bottom corner, "A healthy relationship." The drunken green-haired man slurred.

"Wha…? Yer not single?" Wade asked.

"Nah, nah, I mean house relation… shit."

The mispronunciation of the last for letters sent all of them into a giggle fit.

"Sean! Dinner!"

"Coming! I gotta go. I see ya laters."

"Bye Sean! Sleep well tonigh'"

They all exited their game and he drunkenly stumbled down the stairs to the dinner table.


	7. Chapter 7

Mark was going to go eat something himself to sober up until his phone rang, "Hello?"

"Alright, I'll admit it." Bob slurred, "I wuz wrong. If you hadn' pushed it, we wouldn't have enjoyed ourselves as mush as we had."

"Yeah, I guess I caugh' him onna bad day or something." Wade added. Looks like he was at Bob's house for the night.

"All that matters is that he's one of us now!"

Everyone cheered happily and said goodnight. He turned everything off in his room and went to go lay down on his bed. Deciding against the idea to have a meal at 7pm. He sent Jack another twitter message.

" I just realizednone of us have your number you wanna send it to me?"

He then went to go scroll through tumblr and twitter before getting lost in youtube videos. He stole a quick glance at the clock and read 10:06pm. He set his phone down and curled up with his blanket to sleep.

He woke up later in complete darkness.

"Ugh. I woke up in the middle of the night." He mumbled out loud in his half-drunken state.

He shifted himself on his mattress to try and get back to sleep when he heard footsteps. Slow and quiet, but footsteps.

' _Probably mom or dad going to the bathroom.'_

His door slowly opened.

"Hello, Mark."

His eyes snapped open. That voice didn't sound like his parents. He bolted upright then exhaled when he saw Sean. He lowered his head and ran his fingers through his red hair.

"Jeez, Sean. Don't scare me like that, not this time a night anyway. Wait, how did you get he-"

He lifted his head and the words got stuck in his throat when he suddenly saw him by his bedside. A strange smile and look in his eyes.

"I took a guess as to where you lived. How you doing, buddy?"

"Uh… I'm good, but I'd like to go back to sleep." He scooted away from him unsure of what was going on.

"Don't worry, I'll let you go back to sleep. I just want to spend a little time with you first, I kind of miss you already."

He reached for his face and he froze at his touch.

' _Wow, his hands are cold.'_

He didn't dare move as his fingernails trailed down his neck and reached his chest, kneeling on the bed to get close.

"You're the best one to play with. You have a bigger impact on him than anyone else."

"H-Him?" He knew this wasn't his new best friend now.

"Ah, where are my manners. I'm Anti, Sean's demon."

"D… Demon?"

"Oh, did he not tell you? How rude. Well, you know now." He pressed a thumb against the side of his jugular, making him swallow uncomfortably. "Now let me show you what I'm all about."

There was pain. Difficulty breathing. Blood. Steadily growing in volume. He coughed up a mouthful onto his sheets and panic finally set in.

"Shh Shh Shh." He leaned forward and whispered, "It's okay, no need to call for help, just enjoy it while it lasts."

The moment a burst of adrenaline flooded his system, he used his strength to kick Anti off the bed. He held his hand over the open wound on his throat and jumped off the bed to run to safety. But the second his feet connected with the floor he fell and landed hard on his chest knocking the breath out of him. It didn't take long before he was filling his lungs with blood trying to gasp for air and the world slowly started to turn black. He reached his hand forward in a last attempt to call for help only to fall limp almost immediately.

Anti leaned into his view, "night night."

He gave one last attempt at regaining oxygen and awoke with a gasp. Just 3 minutes before his alarm goes off. He took a deep breath then slowly stood up, nursing his second hangover for this week. He looked at his phone as he waited for his alarm to go off before he gathered his belongings and went to take a quick shower. He received a notification on twitter that Sean had posted a picture and had sent him a message. The message being the number he asked for and the picture being what he took last night during their gaming session. The picture was a bit blurry but he could still make out the little details. Chuckling to see that the blur somehow managed to copy his green hair onto the screen behind him.

Sean was finally sitting at their table for lunch and he still looks as happy as yesterday. He watched as he laughed with Wade and Bob about the animes they watched while he wondered why he had a nightmare about Sean's supposed 'demon.'.

"Hey, Mark," Bob grabbed his attention, "You okay there, buddy? You haven't eaten anything and lunch is going to end soon. Did you run with a hangover again?"

"No, I had a big breakfast and drank a lot of water before I walked to school so I'm not feeling sick," He poked at his food, " I was just thinking about a dream I had last night."

"What was it about?"

"I dreamt that Sean came into my room."

"Hang on, is this going to get pornographic?" Wade teased.

"Oh yeah. Soooo pornographic! It was so sexy!"

They all laughed and he continued with the details.

"He introduced himself as his 'demon side' and proceeded to kill me."

"Oh shit, that's kind of freaky. If you had a demon, I'm sure you would tell us, right Sean?"

He laughed, "Of course! And I would threaten him not to hurt you guys either. I mean, look at these plus one biceps!-" He flexes his arms, "- Don't these look like the muscles of a dangerous man?!"

Mark squeezed his arms, "Yep, feels like the muscles of a demon-slaying champion."

They all laughed at his outburst and the day continued happily. Mark getting his mind off of his, disturbingly realistic, nightmare and Sean's emotions seemingly jumping from anger to terror periodically.

The last class of the day Mark decided to bring up the conversation again with Sean alone. Mark laid on his back to do sit-ups and Sean knelt down to hold his feet. He realized this wasn't the best time to bring it up but he couldn't stop himself.

"Hey, Sean, did I trigger something today to upset you?"

His green hair bounced when he snapped his head up to meet his gaze, "What did you say?"

"When I was talking about my nightmare. Don't act like I didn't notice, you were clearly bothered by it all day."

"Oh. I guess, I don't know."

He took the hint and continued his warmups in silence. When everyone was told to go jogging Sean was at the back of the group this time and Mark hung back to jog alongside him.

"You know, if anything bothers you, you can tell me. I wouldn't judge you and I would be more than happy to help you."

"Thanks, Mark," He smiled at him, "but I really can't say anything about earlier today. I made a face that was concerning to you and I apologize. I'm fine, really."

He gave him a big smile to prove it and, with perfect timing, he tripped and landed face first into the dirt.

Mark stopped immediately, letting the teacher and everyone else run ahead and rushed to his aid.

The smaller man lifted his face off the dirt, spitting dust out of his mouth, and started laughing to show he was fine

Mark laughed with him and extended his hand out to help him up, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

He grabbed his hand and Mark's face quickly fell when he stood up. Fresh, deliberate-looking scars were visible on his arm. Just as the visual was registered Sean yanked his hand back. "Don't tell anyone." He almost demanded.

"Sean," he felt so heartbroken, "What's going on? You were just telling me that you were fine and I see…"

"Nothing. Let's just keep jogging."

Mark was left standing there thinking about what he just saw and was soon snapped out of his thoughts when his teacher called everyone back into the building to shower. For that hour he was a robot. Get undressed, shower, get dressed, get things together, think think think think, and leave. He almost made it to the exit when he realized that Sean wasn't anywhere nearby.

"Hey, something wrong?" Bob patted his shoulder.

"Bob, did you see Sean?"

"Last I saw him was at the showers."

"Is he still back there?" Wade asked.

"I'm going to go find him so you guys can go ahead and I'll text you later." He was already backing away from them to start his search.

"Oh, alright, well, have a safe trip home and we'll hear from you two later."

"Bye, Mark!"

He had already disappeared around a corner when he heard his friends call out their goodbyes to him. He rushed for the showers, his worst fear slowly becoming a reality. Soon enough, he heard shouting.

"So you think that just because you're friends with a couple of nerds you're allowed happiness?! Well guess what, fag! I'm still here and what I say goes!"

There was a loud thump and a cry of pain.

He was calling out to Jake before he even reached the door. "Fuck off, Jake! Leave him alone!"

"Make me!"

He was looking through the doorway seeing Sean in a crumpled, bloody and bruised heap on the tile floor and in the next second, a blur. When things became clear again, he sees Jake falling to the floor in agony, unable to stand up. His friends disappeared during the brawl at some point but they weren't all that important right now.

He kneels next to Sean, "Sean? Hey, C'mon buddy, it's time to go home."

He patted his face a few times but wasn't getting a reaction. He turned him onto his back and checked his heartbeat and breathing. When everything checked out, he decided to hook his hands under his arms and drag him into a room where Jake wasn't. Thankfully he was already fully clothed before any of this started. He then went to go find a water bottle and, without thinking, poured it on his face.

Sean soon woke up sputtering and coughing, "What the hell, man?!"

"Sorry, I panicked. I wasn't sure if you were going to wake up." He put the water bottle down.

He wiped his face dry of water with his hands then felt his head for any signs of urgent medical help.

"How do you feel?"

"Like hell. What happened?"

"I ran into the showers just in time to see you on the floor and Jake kicking you."

"Ah, so right about the time that I passed out. What happened after that?"

"I don't know. It was a blur. But I snapped out of it and Jake was on the floor and his friends were gone so I guess I won."

Sean looked at him and blinked a couple of times. "Not without a couple of battle scars anyway. You might want to clean your face."

Mark looked himself in the reflection of a nearby window and saw a couple of bruises and bad cuts. He was sure his body looked worse. He grabbed the water bottle and poured a little on his face. Or that was the plan until Sean purposefully bumped the bottom of the bottle soaking the front of his shirt.

He laughed as Mark spit water onto the floor. "You ass!" He laughed.

"This isn't over, shitbag!"

They turned to see Jake angrily limp away from them to go home.

They shrugged it off and stood up. Or Sean tried to before he fell forward and landed face first into Mark's chest. Mark instinctively wrapped his arms around him.

"Woah, you okay there?"

Sean quickly righted himself looking a bit flustered. "Y-Yeah. Sorry about that."

"It's okay, I'm just glad you don't have any broken bones." He tried to keep his cool by running his fingers through his hair. "You want me to walk you home? Or do you think you can make it home on your own?"

"I can make it. I'm not limping like Jake or anything."

"Okay that's good. Speaking of which, why was he beating you up in the first place?"

We gathered our stuff and made our way out of the building as we talked.

"He's convinced that I'm trying to make him look bad because we became friends."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's a good reason to give someone a beat down."

They chuckled and gave each other a quick hug goodbye.

"Tomorrow's Saturday, you want to do something together?"

"I don't see why not. We'll talk about plans tomorrow. Have a good night!"

"You too! Goodbye!"


	8. Chapter 8

When Sean entered his home, he tried hard to avoid his parents seeing him.

"Hey, honey! You're home a little later than normal. Did you do something with the guys after school?" She hadn't looked up from her book yet.

"Uh, yeah, just chilling and talking. I'm going to go upstairs for a bit."

"Hang on, I got dinner ready and it's been sitting on the table- My god! Sean, what on earth happened?!" She quickly puts her hands on the bruises on his face making him wince.

"I… I got beat up right after school."

"I'm going to have to call your teacher about this behavior! Who's your bully?"

"No, mom, please don't."

"Alright, fine, I don't need to know your bully's name; I'll just call the principal. You go upstairs and wash up then you can come back down stairs for dinner."

He sighed and went to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, his face had a massive bruise on the left cheek and a small one on his right temple with a cut here and there on his chin and forehead. He ran the faucet and splashed water on his face a couple of times.

"Sean?"

He froze.

"Are you up there?"

"… Y-Yes…"

His father stood in the doorway of the bathroom. "I just heard you got beat up in school today."

"Yeah, I did."

"Did they have powers? Inhuman strength? Weapons?"

"No sir."

"So you just got your ass beat by some stupid high schoolers."

"Um…"

"Don't bother answering. I know the answer." He gave him a good smack across the face causing him to stumble and land in the tub, the blow to the back of his head from the tile wall blurring his vision.

"You're 17-years-old. You need to man up already. If someone's beating you, you fight back."

The second that phrase was uttered, his demon took over faster than he could stop him. He was soon left standing there once again, petrified to see he had slammed his father's head against the wall.

"You little shit!" He reached his hands forward and grabbed his throat.

He struggled for air until his mother was heard. "What is going on up there?!"

His father let go and he fell backwards into the tub once more, his vision slowly coming back to him.

"Sean just started attacking me and shouting obscenities at me! You need to give him his pills right away!"

"Oh dear!" She quickly reached for the medicine cabinet and took a pill out of the bottle. Setting it on the counter, she filled a cup with water from the still-running faucet then turned it off before helping Sean out of the tub. He wobbled a little before noticing the pill and cup of water.

"Go ahead and take your pill and we'll wait for you downstairs at the dinner table, sweetie." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and they both went downstairs.

Sean stared at the pill then at his beaten reflection. It didn't take long before he noticed the small blood splatter on the wall behind him from where his father's head was forcefully shoved into.

"You feel that? The thrill of almost killing someone you hate?"

His living nightmare leaned against the doorframe with an evil grin. "No, of course not. Killing is wrong."

"But oh so right. I bet you want to kill that jackass Jake."

"No, I don't. Stop trying to make me do things I don't want to do." He went ahead and took the pill.

"I'm not making you do anything. I'm simply speaking your mind, or the part of your mind you claim to be not you when we both know you're just lying to yourself."

He pushed passed his puppet master and went downstairs to have dinner with his parents.

The conversation throughout that whole hour was about his friends and their concern with his health and safety after the "episode" he had in the bathroom. When it finally ended, he went straight up the stairs to close himself off from the world outside. He sighed and leaned against the door, sliding down to the floor where he hugged his knees.

"Aw, cheer up little guy, it gets better."

He lifted his head and glared at Anti. "Yeah, when you leave."

"Well, there's only one way to make that wish come true and we both know you can't do it."

He looked at his damaged wrist. "I almost did it. If Mark hadn't messaged me on twitter asking for my number I probably wouldn't be here right now."

"And that's when I knew who my favorite toy was."

"Yeah, about that. Did you haunt his dreams last night?" He stood up.

"Oh, he told you. Yep, learned how to do that little trick just recently, too."

"Is this what you meant about playing with them? Traumatizing them with vivid nightmares?"

"No but I might do that every now and then, it's kind of fun. It's like I'm stealing their canvas before they can even BEGIN to paint."

He was at a loss for words. He put his hands on his face and gradually slid them upwards to grab his hair.

"Looks like someone's a little tense." He put his hand on Sean's shoulder, making him flinch and look him in the face, "Fortunately I know just the thing to relieve that stress."

His hand quickly began to disappear into his shoulder.

" _ **Don't fight it."**_ His voice was echoing in his head.

He tried desperately to squirm away from him before he took over his body. "ANTI! STOP!"

His mind was already cloudy. Soon his fighting weakened and Sean was no longer in control.


	9. Chapter 9

Mark sat at his desk with his homework in front of him. He was trying to start it but didn't get far before Felix's words echoed in his head again.

 _ **He had just said goodbye to Sean and was walking home when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He stopped to see Felix behind him with a look of concern on his face.**_

" _ **Felix? Is something wrong?"**_

" _ **I need to tell you something about Sean."**_

 _ **He rolled his eyes. "I get it. You don't trust him. Can you stop telling us this and let us enjoy our new friend?"**_

" _ **Trust me, I would if I didn't think there was anything wrong but I really think there's something going on."**_

 _ **He crossed his arms waiting for him to explain.**_

" _ **I'm sensing a darker presence in his soul. Something inhuman and evil."**_

"' _ **A darker presence.' Really?" He said in a non-concerned 'are you serious?' tone.**_

" _ **I know it sounds stupid but hear me out."**_

Mark looked at Sean's "GTA 5" picture on twitter.

' _I see it in his eyes. Surely you see it, too, the darkness, lifelessness, the evil? Think about it.' There was a short pause before Felix looked at the ground then walked away._

He kept looking at Sean's face; he couldn't see anything in his eyes except drunkenness. Then his gaze went to his green hair in the reflection and he sat up.

' _Wait.'_

He saw it in those eyes, his face also looked familiar. Like-

'" _I'm Anti, Sean's demon."'_

"Is… Is Anti-"

There was a knock at the door, halting his thought process. He stood up and went downstairs to answer it since his parents were out seeing a movie at the moment. Opening the door, he saw a familiar sight. He opened his mouth to speak-

"Remember me?"

"A… Anti…"

"Yep, nice job, princess."

He then steps into the house, closes the door, and latch's his hand around his throat.

"Y-You're real! Felix was… right about you!" He wheezed.

"Ah, so there is someone in your little group smarter than all of you." He held him against the wall.

Mark struggled desperately against his grasp. For being smaller than him he was surprisingly strong. Just as his vision was beginning to dim, he looked at his form one last time to see his clothes covered in blood.

His eyes widened. "Blood…"

"Hm?"

Anti suddenly dropped him and as he coughed and gasped for air, Anti looked at the various blots of blood on his person.

"Well shit. This won't end well if I don't do anything about it. Eh, I'll take care of it later. Right now I'm busy with you." He gave him an evil smirk.

Mark tried to get away only to have the collar of his shirt snag on Anti's fingers. He landed hard on his back and his gaze was met with evil intentions.

"Hm. What to do first." He stroked his cheek, making a small cut from his sharp nails, "Your fear is delicious. This is why you're my favorite."

His finger traced a line starting at the top of his ribcage to his waist, slicing his shirt completely in half. The fabric gently fell away and Mark instinctively covered himself with his arms.

He chuckled at the attempt, "Oh, honey, being stripped naked is the least of your worries." He drew an "X" on his chest, cutting the skin and watching the blood run down the sides of his body and get soaked up by the shirt.

Mark's breathing quickened as panic began to set in once more.

Anti straddled his leg, "Aw, what's wrong, sweetie?"

He put his hands on Mark's waist and slowly increased the pressure on his fingers. The man's face scrunched up in pain and soon growls and groans were heard.

"You're voice is beautiful even when you're in pain." He drew his fingers up and onto his abdomen, watching the blood pool around them and listening as he howled in agony.

"What's this here?"

Mark felt a knee prod his crotch and tried to scoot away but was firmly held in place by his hips.

"Hang on, let's play with this." He unbuttoned and unzipped Mark's pants enjoying his desperate attempts to escape.

He lowered the waistband of his underwear and- he stopped. Looking annoyed for some reason.

"Sean is waking up. God damn pest."

Soon there was the sound of a car parking and turning off.

"Looks like we wouldn't have continued anyway. Oh well, I'll see you another time, my little play-thing." He stood up and waved goodbye to him as he made his way to the back door.

Just as he disappeared his parents opened the door and his mother screamed in horror at her son's state. His father rushed for a phone as his mother held him as gently as she could.

Mark tried his best to stay awake until the paramedics arrived.

"Who did this to you?! What happened?! Why did it happen-"

"Asking him questions like that isn't going to help anything! Leave him be he's in great pain!"

"You're asking me to leave him alone when you're trying to hug him?! How do you know you're not making him lose more blood that way?!

' _Don't… fight…'_

He was slowly starting to black out, unsure of who was saying what anymore.


	10. Chapter 10

Sean woke up the next morning to a putrid smell. He gagged and covered his face with his blanket. When that didn't work he used his pillow. When that didn't work he decided he'd investigate the location and the reason. He sat up and looked around the room, it didn't seem like it was coming from anywhere in particular nor could he see what could be producing it. Maybe he'd find it in a few minutes if he got ready for the day. He stood up, realizing that he wore clothes to bed last night for whatever reason. He looked down and nearly screamed at what he saw. His green shirt and blue jeans were covered in blood. He then remembers Anti.

"Sorry about your clothes, hon." Anti sat in his computer chair, "I forgot about them after "doing the deed" last night and you were starting to wake up in the middle of my playtime with Mark so this was the best I could do in a last minute situation."

He stared at him, "You didn't…"

He smiled, "I think the blood speaks for itself."

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MARK?!"

"Oh, Mark? He's fine. Hospitalized maybe but-"

He didn't wait for him to finish before he burst out of the room.

"Clothes!" Anti called.

There's an 'oh shit!' and Sean comes running back in to, almost literally, rip his clothes off and get clean ones on. Once he does that, he grabs his wallet and phone to head to the hospital.

"Sean, wait!" He stopped just before he grabbed the door handle to the front door, "Don't you want breakfast?"

"Sorry, mom, I'm not hungry at the moment. I have to go see Mark at the hospital right now."

"Mark's in the hospital?!"

She couldn't get an answer before he disappeared outside of the house.

He anxiously waited for the bus, texting Mark for his whereabouts.

"Mark! Where are you?! I heard you were in the hospital!"

He didn't answer before the bus arrived but he didn't care. He'd ride the bus all day waiting his response.

30 minutes into the ride he received the address to his hospital. No other details though.

' _Shit.'_ He thought, _'I have to take another bus.'_

He got off at the next stop and it took another hour before he arrived at the desired building.

He rushed through the automatic doors, "Hey, I'm Sean McLoughlin, Mark Fishbach's friend. Can you tell me which room he's in, please?" He said hurriedly and out of breath.

"Uh, yeah, one sec." Replied the woman.

She typed a few things out on her computer than pointed down the hall telling him his room number.

He thanked her and followed her finger his room number.

' _Floor 4 room 367'_

In the elevator, he thought about what kind of state he must be in. Did he lose a limb? Is he in critical condition? Is he going to make it?

By the time the elevator reached his floor, he looked white as a sheet and he tried his best to get his color back as he walked down the hall counting the numbers he passed by. Every now and then he'd peek into the rooms that were already open and see people motionless on beds or sitting next to the window. He prayed to god he was sitting up in bed at least.

Once he found the room, he knocked and heard a 'come in!'

He opened it a crack and saw Mark relaxing in a reclined position looking at the TV screen.

"Mark! You're alive!" He closed the door behind him and quickly sat in the chair next to his bed with a bright smile.

"Hey, Sean," He smiled back at him, "Yeah, it wasn't anything serious. Lost a bit of blood and needed some stitches. Nothing too big."

"It would have been huge if your father and I hadn't come home in time."

Sean didn't even notice the two adults sitting on the other side of the room.

"Oh, mom, dad, this is Sean, the friend I've been telling you about."

Sean smiled and waved hello to them, "Hi! It's nice to meet you."

They smiled and waved back, "It's nice to finally meet you, too, Sean." His mother replied.

"We're glad you could visit." His father added.

' _I hope you guys like me. Please like me.'_

Great. As if he wasn't already worried.

"Hey, do you think you can give Sean and I a minute to talk?"

Sean looked at his friend questionably and his parents looked at each other before they stood up to give them the privacy he requested.

Once the door closed, Mark started whispering to him, "I saw him. Anti. He nearly killed me but then he stopped and said you were waking up and my parents came home and he left before they could see him."

He whispered back, "Yeah, he told me about that. I think he did worse than almost kill you though…"

His eyes widened, "Did… Did he…"

"I don't know I was hoping you could tell me what he did."

"To me?"

"Yeah. I woke up with blood on my clothes. I didn't see anything he did to you and you're in the hospital after he 'played' with you."

"What he did wouldn't have put blood on his shirt. He already had blood on him when he came to my house."

All the blood drained from Sean's face. "What else did he do?!"

"I wasn't there during his first attack. In any case, we need to do something about it."

"How?! He won't leave unless I die. Why do you think I cut myself?! I want him to leave me and everyone else alone but there's no other way!"

"He may not leave but maybe we can control him."

"Do you have an idea already or something?"

"Felix told me about how he could sense a darker side of you and after encountering that darker side of you I told him he was right and asked if there was anything we could do. He hasn't gotten back to me yet."

"Can you call him or something?"

"I can try."

He dialed his number, set it to speaker and they both waited for him to answer.

"Hey, Mark. Sorry I didn't answer immediately, I'm looking for possible solutions to the problem on the computer."

"Felix, Sean is here with me."

"Sean? Did Anti attack you, too?!"

"Oh! No no no. I came here to see Mark."

"Okay, good. Anyway, to answer your earlier question, I found something that could work."

"Before you say 'kill him' or 'banish him' let me stop you. He's stuck with me until the end of my life. No ifs, ands, or buts."

"Oh, I know. I could feel him sticking to you with all his strength. There's no way to detach him from you which is why I think we'll go with the trap method."

"We're going to set a trap?"

"Yes. We do a ritual and he'll be caged in an amulet. Good news is that it would be like you never summoned him. Downside is you can't take off the necklace; it's like when you tie your tooth to the door. When the doorknob is too far away, the tooth has to go somewhere. You're the door and Anti's the tooth. The string… is only a yard long."

"I'll live with it. As long as nobody gets hurt anymore."

"Alright then, reading the instructions we have to be in the room where he accompanies most."

"My room. Easy, he never leaves unless I'm in the bathroom next to my room or talking to my reflection in a mirror."

"Next we need salt to put in every corner of your room to keep him from escaping, a single candle, an amulet, a knife, and chalk."

"Generic ritual stuff got it." Mark nodded.

Felix chuckled, "Yeah, it's no different compared to what you've seen in movies."

"When should we do all of this?"

"We can't do it when my parents are home," Sean jumped in, "They'll stop it far before we even start."

"When will they be out of town?"

"They aren't normally but I can try something."

There was a knock on Mark's door. "Come in!" He called hanging up the phone.

A doctor walked in, "Hello, Mark, how are we feeling?"

He smiled, "Feeling pretty good. How does everything look?"

"Everything looks great. I'm here to change your wrappings. Excuse us, young man."

Sean knew this was his cue to leave the room, "Right, I'll leave the room."

Closing the door behind him, he was face-to-face with his friend's parents again. He waved 'hello' shyly. "Hey, again. How are you guys doing?"

They smiled, "We're doing great, thank you for asking." His mother replied.

"Let's go sit in the chairs in the waiting room so we're not blocking anyone." Mr. Fishbach suggested.

Sean nodded and followed them to the waiting room.

"So Sean," Mrs. Fishbach began, "how did you two become friends?"

"I came to his school a month ago not really wanting to have anything to do with people but then he kept trying to talk to me and eventually he broke me and we were best friends ever since. Only been three days, too."

"Oh, yeah, he can make friends like no one else. He's such a likable person."

"He really is. I haven't felt this happy in a long time."

The visit continued until the late afternoon and the Fischbach's offered to drive Sean back home. Once he was dropped off he waved goodbye to his new manifestations of performance anxiety.

He walked into his house called out to his parents, "Mom? Dad? I'm sorry I left so suddenly this morning. I home now if you want to ask questions now."

"Sean!" She hugged him tightly, "You're forgiven. I understand your worry and urgency. I just hope that Mark is alright."

"He is. He just has some scars and lost a little too much blood but he looks good as new."

"Oh that's great! I was worried sick you were going to come home bawling your eyes out."

He glanced over his mother's shoulder to his glaring father and laughed nervously, "Me? Of course not. I'm a man, I don't cry."

"Aw, honey, it's okay to express emotion and show weakness. It's healthy and it's human."

He stared at his disapproving father being sure to express insincerity in his direction during his next sentence, "Okay, mom, I'll try not to be too much of a robot for you." _'I wish I didn't have to…'_

"Thank you, now how about a nice big dinner plate full of food?"

"That sounds awesome! What are we having?"

"Mashed potatoes, peas and rolls."

Once the table was set up, plates were filled and everyone began to eat, his mother started the conversation.

"So what happened to Mark to put him in such a state?"

"Uh…" He fiddled with his roll, "A… robber broke in and he fought the man until his parents came home."

"Goodness! It sounds like he should have suffered more than just a few scars if that's the case."

"Yeah, I know, right? He's something else. He's a survivor. A big strong survivor."

His father suddenly slammed his fist onto the table, "Why can't you be more like him, then? You're friend's with him for fuck's sake!"

"Matthew! Language!"

He grumbled then promptly left the table. She turned her attention back to her son, "Don't listen to that, you're perfect the way you are." She smiled then continued eating.

"Thanks mom. Um, may I be excused?"

She glanced at his plate, "I'm beginning to think maybe your medication is interfering with your appetite. I think I'm going to call your doctor tonight. If you really think you can't eat any more of your meal then you're excused."

He suddenly felt guilty and reached for his roll, "I can eat this if that makes you feel better."

"It does a little. Just don't track crumbs everywhere, especially the couches and beds."

"I won't. Love you mom."

"Love you too, Sean."

He went upstairs and locked himself in his room.

"So, is he dead yet or is he currently dying and you just couldn't stick around to see it?"

He sighed, "Can you not talk to me right now? I need to make plans with a friend."

He groaned, getting up from the chair, "Fine. I was just asking, you can at least answer my question."

He took his seat in front of the computer, "No, he's not dead and he's not dying. He's in the hospital for another week and that's it."

"Boring. Well, at least I had fun with Jake."

His breath got caught in his throat. It never occurred to him that Jake could be the first person he attacked. He whipped his body around in his direction,"What the fuck did you do to him?! Is he the reason why I was covered in blood this morning?!"

"Hey, now, there's a story to this. Don't start spoiling my ending already."

He stood up, "I don't want to hear a damn story I want to hear answers!"

"And you'll get them if you sit and listen."

He resisted the urge to throw a punch and sat back down.

"It was a dark and peaceful night. I took control over your body and took a walk to our best enemy's house."

"How did you know where his house was?"

"He was my first "dream haunting" experiment. Now shh! Upon entering the house, he didn't answer his door after knocking twice so I let myself in."

"You broke into his house?!"

"Well, yeah, I couldn't do anything if the door was in my way. I just wish I could have phased through everything instead of physically breaking the lock."

Sean's heart dropped. Imagining himself behind bars made him feel ill.

"Anyway, I walked up the stairs and saw Jake sleeping soundly in his bed. Had my knife ready in hand and gently shook him awake. He woke up and immediately started punching me. Spitting harsh insults and swears in my direction. I didn't much like that so I jumped on top of him and showed him my favorite toy."

"You didn't kill him, right? Please tell me you just stabbed him a few times and you were on your way."

A smile creeped up his face, "If I did that he would have tattled on me."

Air refused to enter his lungs as tears poured down his cheeks, "Anti…. No…"

Anti pointed out his bedroom window. He slowly stood up and approached the window.

Everything stopped. Nothing mattered except for the mound of dirt in his backyard.

"He'll never bother you again."

 _ **He lost it**_ "YOU'VE RUINED MY LIFE! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

"I made it easier, you ungrateful bastard. I got rid of one of the many people in your life that cause you problems."

"…..not like this….." He dropped to his knees and covered his face in an attempt to regain composure.

"You're welcome Sean."

He didn't even have the strength talk let alone stand. He positioned himself on the bed with his shaky hands on his head, his world spinning thinking about the consequences.

"Don't worry, as long as no one finds out we'll be fine. If someone does find out, we'll just add to the body count. No big deal. Oooh, it's like a fun game." Anti clapped his hands in excitement.

Sean couldn't hear anything. It was just a muffled mess in his ears. He tried to shift the gears in his head to focus on something else before he had a panic attack.

He couldn't deviate his thoughts from his new discovery and he soon felt his breath quicken and the room spin. He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes to try and calm down.

"Hey, snap out of it, I don't want you dying yet." Anti yelled at him.

He looked up at his demon and quickly made his way to the bathroom, gripping the edges of the sink and leaning on his arms, taking deep slow breaths. Once his had his breath again he looked himself in the mirror.

' _I'm a murderer.'_

He suddenly felt hatred and reached into the cabinet for his razor. But before he could do anything he finally succumbed to the stress and expelled everything in his stomach into the toilet. After a full minute of dry heaving, he sat back up and looked for his razor. After a few seconds of looking around and seeing no sign of it he decided that it was lost forever and flushed.

He spent the next 3 hours lying in bed, drowning in depression and hopelessness. The familiar sound of his phone broke him from his thoughts and checked to see who had messaged him.

"Hey Sean! You want to join me and Wade for some arcade games tomorrow?"

He thought for a second. At first he was going to say no because he wanted to continue to mope about his doomed future but realized it was probably a good idea to get his mind off of everything.

"Yeah when should I be there?"

"At the mall by 12 you can't miss the arcade."

He put his phone down and glanced at the clock. 12am. He decided that was late enough and curled up under the blankets to sleep. Vivid nightmares about Jake's body and his future haunted him for those 9 hours.

Arriving at the mall the next day, Sean trudged to the arcade to meet up with Wade and Bob.

"Sean!"

He caught a glimpse of Bob waving his hand in the air at the entrance to the arcade.

He plastered a smile on his face, "Bob! Hey!" he ran up to him and gave him a quick hug, "Where's Wade?"

"Wade? Fuck Wade."

Sean laughed.

"I texted him when I got here." Bob continued, "He's on his way, he'll be a minute though. So how's Mark? I heard he was in the hospital."

"He's doing great. Some stitches a bit of blood loss but another week in the hospital and he'll be feeling great!"

"That's good!"

They continued to talk until Wade arrived and they began their air hockey game. Everyone was enjoying themselves until a question shook Sean to the very core.

"So, Sean, Mark says he was attacked by your demon."

He visibly paled, "Uh… haha, yeah, the guy was messed up. Too bad he looked like me; let's hope the police don't think it was me."

"No. I mean your darker half. Not a human being but an actual demon that looked like you. Don't worry, I don't think you ordered your demon to kill Mark or anything, I'm just curious because I didn't know you had a demon and I want to know more about it."

He stopped playing the game, "Are you really going to believe that crap?" He tried not to raise his voice.

"He showed us the picture you took while we were playing GTA 5 and pointed to the reflection that showed up on the TV screen. That looked pretty believable to me. I'm sorry I upset you, we'll forget about it."

' _Reflection?'_ He quickly took out his phone to see that picture again. _'There he is!'_

He felt chills run up his spine just looking at the picture.

"Hey, you okay there, man?" He looked up from his phone, "I really am sorry for upsetting you. I shouldn't have asked. You want to play something else or go eat? My treat."

"Uh, yeah, let's go eat. I probably just need food in my body."

They went to a pizza place and the conversation became light and fun once again. But the anger he felt towards Mark didn't fade and as soon as he said goodbye to his friends he went straight to the hospital to confront him. He concealed his anger until no one was around and he knocked on his door.

"Come in!"

He opened the door and he was immediately blinded by rage.

"Sean! Hey! Look, I can walk again!" Mark cheered, "It took a couple of minutes but I'm really glad I don't have to be helped to the bathroom or be bathed by another person anymore."

Sean slammed the door closed, "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Sean roared startling Mark, "WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU TELL WADE AND BOB ABOUT ANTI WITHOUT ASKING ME?!"

"Oh. Shit. Sean, I'm really sorry, I was in a moment of panic and I wasn't thinking straight. I swear they're the only people I told."

"YOU'RE FUCKING SORRY?! YOU OPENLY TOLD THEM ABOUT SOMETHING PERSONAL I DIDN'T GIVE YOU PERMISSON ABOUT!"

"Sean! Calm down everyone in the building will hear you! I'm not sure what else you want me to say, I didn't mean to, really, you have every right to be angry."

"YOU'RE FUCKING RIGHT I DO! HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO TRUST YOU WITH ANYTHING NOW?!"

"I don't. What I did was irreversible-"

"I KNOW, YOU ASSHOLE!"

Black. But only for a few seconds then he heard a grunt and a groan.

"Mark! Are you okay?!"

Sean snapped out of his rage and he immediately stopped breathing at the sight in front of him. He had punched Mark square in the jaw. His mother was at Mark's side as he writhed on the floor in pain.

"Get out, now!"

His gaze met the fire in Mr. Fishbach's eyes. He had never felt so ashamed.

The door slammed open. "What's going on?! Is everyone okay?!" A doctor asked frantically.

Sean looked back at the doctor, his ears ringing and mind blank, feeling and hearing nothing but his heart beat. _'What… What did I do? Why…'_

"Everything's fine, doctor. HE was just leaving, weren't you Sean?"

He looked down to see Mrs. Fishbach in tears glaring at him with all the hate she could muster. He wanted nothing more than to cry and beg for forgiveness. _'I didn't mean it! Please! I'm sorry!'_

He took another glance at Mr. Fishbach and promptly left when he saw the warning. He mumbled an apology to the doctor on his way out and avoided all eye contact until he made it home.

"Welcome home, honey! How was spending time with your friends?"

He didn't even look in her direction. Just sprinted up the stairs and closed the door behind himself. He was sobbing before he made it to his bed.

"That was quite the treat earlier. Thanks a lot, hon."

His sadness suddenly turned to anger once again and leapt out of bed to throw a punch at the air.

"Too slow. Nice try though, you're getting faster."

He collapsed where he stood to continue sobbing.

"He shouldn't have told them that," He whispered to his sobbing form, "He deserved that punch to the face and you know it."

"That was you, wasn't it?!"

"You're a smart one, aren't ya? Yep, I didn't have the chance to play with him last night since he was surrounded by family and doctors so I'd thought I'd take advantage of the situation today and that was well worth it."

"You ass! Do you realize what you've done?!"

"I realize I may have costed you a friend but, hey, you've got three more. No harm done."

He was about to yell at him again when he remembered Felix.

' _We need to do this now before I kill anyone else.'_

He picked up his phone and asked Bob for Felix's number.

Once he had it he quickly texted Felix begging him to begin the ritual as soon as they could.

"Is Mark out of the hospital already?"

"No but he won't be joining us either."

"What happened?!"

"He's fine but Anti took over again. I punched him in the face AT the hospital and now he and his parents hate me." He broke down crying remembering the recent event.

"Oh shit, okay are you ready at all?"

"No, I haven't thought of an excuse yet."

"Give them a long list of things to get at the grocery store."

"If it's something I need, they won't leave without me."

"Tell them you have a project to do and you need to work on it."

"Okay, I'll give it a shot."

He put his phone down to pull out a pen and paper from his nightstand drawer. On it he wrote as many things as he could that would sound like he was doing a project for science class. Once he felt that it would take them an hour to get it all, he folded up the paper, put it in his pocket and went to the bathroom to wash his face, erasing the evidence that he had just been crying.

He walked up to his mother in the living room, "Hey, mom, you think you and dad can get me some things for a project I'm doing?"

"Sure, honey, do you have a list?"

Her eyes widened at the list she was given, "Oh my. Paint, paint brushes, foam balls, glitter, what project is this?"

"Science. It's a small statue of the solar system. The better it looks the better the grade."

"Are you sure you need three books on the solar system though? You have a computer."

"Yeah, because I should believe everything the internet says."

She chuckled. "That's a good point. Are you ready to go right now?"

"Uh, I can't come with you. I need to….. get the written portion done. I have a couple of books I think will help me get it started."

"Alright. Well, I think I can get this all myself and you and your father can work on that together."

His father looked up from his newspaper as though he disapproved of the idea.

"No!" Sean suddenly shouted making both of them freeze and stare, "I mean… there's a movie you both might want to see. It's called… "The Hangover.""

"I've heard of that movie. I don't like the content in it, it's too vulgar."

"You know what?" He quickly tried to find an excuse to make them go, "It's… It looks like that to reel in the people who like that but it really isn't. I saw it with Bob and Wade today actually, it's really good."

"That's an odd way to advertise. But if you saw it and you can tell me that it's not what I think it is then I'll trust you." He internally cringed at the phrase, "C'mon Matthew, let's go see a movie together. Actually, before I leave, why is it you rushed upstairs when you came in? Is something wrong? It looks like you were crying."

Another few seconds of scrambling for excuses, "Uh… It was a really emotional movie." He said trying to work the tears up again, "So much happened to that poor family, mom! It was beautiful but it was so sad! You have to see it!" He wiped his eyes, congratulating himself on his acting skills.

"Wow, if it's that good, we might see it first. Do you mind? Or do you need everything right now?"

"I can wait. I plan to focus on the written portion today then work on the visual portion tomorrow."

"Alright, we'll see you in a couple of hours then. I love you Sean."

"I love you, too, mom! Have fun today."

Once they left the house, he rushed back upstairs to let Felix know.

"I did it! They both went out with a long list and a plan to see a movie."

"Awesome! I have everything ready so I'll be there in a few minutes."

He sent him his address then put his phone down to begin cleaning his room for the ritual. Trying not to look out his window at the dirt mound and hoping Felix won't see it either.

"You're cleaning your room, that's new. What's the occasion?"

"We're getting rid of you." He said without hesitation.

He cackled. "You know the rules, right? You'd have to die, first. Well, I guess that wouldn't be too hard to do at this point."

"We looked it up. We WILL get rid of you. It WILL work."

"You keep telling yourself that."

He rolled his eyes and went back to cleaning. Once he finished his chore, he waited anxiously on his bed. Wondering what would happen if it didn't work.

" _ **You tried to trap me in a stupid necklace?! You're going to die where you stand!" Anti leapt forward and sliced Felix's throat open.**_

 _ **He choked on his blood, collapsing to the floor and coughing up mouthfuls. Sean rushed to his side, grabbing onto him as if it would keep him alive, "FELIX! NO!"**_

" _ **It's not… your fault…" The life left his eyes and he was left sobbing once more.**_

 _ **He felt his demon's hand on his shoulder.**_

" _ **You're right, you shouldn't have friends anymore. He almost broke us up."**_

A knock on the door halted his thoughts and he happily answered it to see Felix with a large bag on his shoulder.

"Hey, how you doing?"

"I'm doing alright I think. Come in, my room is upstairs."

"Alright, cool. Hey, you know I don't judge you for socking him in the face, right? "

He smiled and it felt as though a weight was lifted. "Thanks man, I needed to hear that."

He smiled back, "No problem. Close the door for me then help me line the room with salt."

He closed the door and grabbed his own salt container to pour a line on the floor against the wall. After that was done, Felix drew a circle in the middle of the room with the chalk, putting both the knife and candle in the circle.

"Alright Sean, you'll sit in the middle of the circle wearing the amulet with the candle and knife in front of you."

"Do I hold the knife?"

"You can but you don't need it right now."

Sean put the necklace over his head and sat cross-legged in the circle. Felix pulled a book out of his bag, opening to a page and reading out loud.

"Salt which lines the floor and the amulet of safety. Hear us as we chant your words and grant us our wish. _Munik Cal Tro_."

Nothing happened.

"Now you can pick up the knife."

Sean shakily picked up the knife.

"It's okay if you're shaky, it means it's working. You're body's just reacting to it."

"I'm terrified that it might not work." Sean corrected.

Felix's face fell but didn't say anything. Just looked back at the book.

"Now make a small cut in the palm of your hand." He lit the candle as he said this.

"Hang on a fucking minute. What was that look on your face?!"

"Sean, cut your hand and hold the candle with your cut hand."

He hesitated for a second but did as he was told anyway. He winced at the sting and was careful not to spill any blood on the carpet.

"Hold the candle until I finish reading. He has been cursed and people are hurt. Stop the pain and hold the demon which causes such misfortune. _Santik Wilok_. Now put the candle outside of the circle and put it out using your blood. It doesn't matter how.

Sean put it down and covered his index and thumb in blood to pinch the flaming wick with it. Once it was out, he shook his hand from the sudden burn he got from it.

"You're an asshole, Sean." Felix spat without warning.

"What? Did I do something wrong?"

"You're the weakest person alive. You should be hanged for everything you've done."

"Dude, stop it. You're being a dick."

"You wanna fight me, bitch?! Bring it on! I bet you can't do shit!" He stood up.

He could feel his judgement get clouded and held his head, forgetting about his cut hand, "Stop! Anti's taking over; you're going to get yourself killed!"

"You're such a pussy! C'mon, show me what you got, you bastard!"

His soul was gone and Anti had taken over.

Sean slowly began to wake, his eyes blinking open and seeing nothing but a blur. He put his hand to his head and groaned.

"Sean?" He looked to the side and saw a familiar blond blur, "We did it. He's trapped in your amulet. Now remember to keep it on at all times."

"We did it? He's gone?" He quickly stood up and jumped in celebration, "Yes!"

Once his feet made contact with the ground again, he nearly fell.

"Woah, watch it. You're not in any state to be doing that yet. Go lie down and I'll clean up the mess."

"You sure? I can help you."

"It's important that you let your body restore itself."

He playfully pushed him onto the bed and Sean chuckled as he back landed on the mattress, thinking about all the things he can finally do now that Anti won't be interfering anymore and he eventually fell asleep. He woke up to the sound of his mother calling him.

"Yeah, mom?" He called back.

"I've got your supplies! I'll put it on the kitchen island for you."

"Okay, thanks!"

He remembered Felix and looked around the room. He wasn't in the bedroom and his parents would have said something if he was downstairs. He then saw a note on the nightstand.

 **Everything's been cleaned. See you tomorrow, Sean! –Felix**

He smiled then threw the note away. Taking another look around the room, it was as if it hadn't happened at all. Although the cupboard was a little scratched and there's still a bit of dust on the floor where the salt and chalk were and- HOLY SHIT THE COMPUTER!

He sat in his chair to inspect his PC. It was charred completely. No part of it was salvageable. Shit, how was he going to explain this to his parents?! He stopped inspecting his PC when he felt a sting on his hand. He looked and was reminded of the ritual which involved him slicing open his hand. He made his way to the bathroom when he was stopped halfway by his mother's voice.

"Sean? Are you up there? The movie wasn't anything you described."

He heard footsteps and looked around desperately for something to hide his computer with. He settled with his hoodie and draped it over the charred machine just in time.

"Are you sure that was the movie you saw? It was exactly what I- Goodness! What happened to your hand?"

He shoved his hand in his pocket before his mother could touch it, "I… Felix came over for a bit and I fell and cut my hand."

"Felix came over? Why didn't you tell me ahead of time?! I sure hope the house was clean enough for visitors."

"Don't worry, I cleaned up the house a bit and we were in my room the whole time. Sorry I didn't tell you ahead of time, he was free after you guys were gone and he wasn't going to be free for very long."

"Well, I hope you two had fun anyway. That's a nice necklace, did he give it to you?"

"Hm?" He felt his neck and remembered the amulet, "Oh. Yeah, he said it was a friendship necklace and that only best friends can wear it."

She smiled, "Well that's excellent, dear. Alright, I'll let you clean your hand and I'll go make us some dinner."

"Thanks mom."

She went back downstairs and he went into the bathroom to wash his hands and wrap gauze around the injured hand. He looked himself in the mirror to see life in his eyes once again already. He held the amulet in his fingers feeling so thankful for everything that's happened recently. His face suddenly fell when he remembered Mark.

' _Shit. Mark.'_

He made a mental note to see him tomorrow to apologize profusely for what happened. It was highly unlikely that he would forgive him but he can hope.

The next 30 minutes were spent in his room rehearsing his apology to Mark. Anything he thought of didn't seem sincere enough. The only thing that would make the apology worth anything is if he knew it was Anti and not Sean who hit him. Mark might understand but his parents were a different story and he didn't have any hope for his parents.

He decided to keep his mind off of it for now by looking at twitter. He saw a notification saying that Lordminion777 and Muyskerm had followed him. He smiled and decided to look through their twitter accounts. He relaxed in his bed for a bit thinking about how much has happened in the last few days and remembered Jake, finding himself standing up to stand at his window. He stared at the mound as his face drained of his blood. He killed a man, he had actually killed a living person, and not even for a good reason.

"Sean! Dinner's ready!"

He was startled out of his thoughts and he took a few deep breaths to compose himself before he called back to her, "Coming!"

Of course his mother noticed that he was a little pale and he had a little trouble eating his meal once again.

His mother looked confused and concerned. "I don't get it. The doctor said that wasn't a side effect of anything you're taking. Maybe I should take you to see a therapist."

"Mom, you really don't have to do that. I'm fine I just haven't been very hungry the last few days."

"But it's been a few days, nothing like that should be considered normal, I want you to at least try a few appointments with a therapist just to put my mind at ease."

He sighed internally, "Alright, I'll have a few appointments just for you."

"Thank you, sweetie. I'll call after dinner. For right now, try to eat as much as you can before you go back upstairs."

He ate until he was uncomfortably stuffed and was now upstairs laying in bed to digest. It didn't last long before there was a knock at the door.

Not feeling the energy to stand up he told his visitor he could come in himself. His unhappy father marched up to him. "Son, where did you get that necklace?"

"It was a gift from my friend."

"Well I don't want you wearing it. Jewelry is for girls, not men. Take it off."

"Alright, I'll take it off and throw it away, or out the window."

"Good." He then left the room leaving the door open.

Once he was out of sight, Sean opened his window, fiddled with his necklace to make the metallic jingling sound, then closed the window. Tucking his amulet into his shirt, he had hoped he tricked his father into thinking he tossed it away.

The morning after was just a blur, trying so hard to make it look like everything was okay, that there wasn't a dead body in the backyard, he hadn't punched Mark in the face and then did a ritual to trap his demon. Just smiling and excuses.

That is until Wade confronted him during recess, "Hey, you okay there, buddy? You've looked… off all day."

He stopped pretending everything was okay and his world came into focus, "I need help."

"Help with what? What can I do?"

"Can I see you at your house after school?"

"Of course. You can walk with me to my place and we can talk there."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it."

Back to being fake and full of excuses until 3pm. The walk to his tall friend's house started and was awkwardly quiet for the first 5 minutes until Wade spoke up.

"So, you want to give me a hint as to what happened?"

"I made a mistake and I don't know what to do with myself."

"Everyone makes mistakes, I'm sure you'll be just fine."

"No I won't. This is a huge, irreversible mistake."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Well, when we get to the house what would you like to eat or drink?"

"I don't know about food but I would love some whisky. I could really use that right now."

"Let's not get drunk before the whole serious situation."

"Alright, I'll drink water then. But then we get whisky, right?"

"Yes. We'll all get drunk and have a good time."

"Sweet."

A few more seconds of silence.

"You think Bob join us, too?"

"Yeah, I'll text him now."

At the house, Sean dropped onto the couch while Wade went to get him and himself a glass of water, "Bob had to take care of a couple of things so he'll be here a little later. In the meantime, we could play some games or watch a movie until he gets here."

The thought of a movie seemed kind of nice actually.

"Let's watch a movie."

Wade handed him his glass and played "Pans Labyrinth." About 40 minutes into the movie, a knock was heard from the front door, "Hey, Wade, I hope I'm not too late"

He paused the movie and stood up to open the door, "Don't worry you didn't miss anything. Come in, you want something to drink?"

"Yeah, that would be nice. You have orange juice?"

"Yep, I'll go get that for you. Go ahead and sit down next to Sean."

He did so and glanced at the TV screen. "I thought you said I wasn't missing anything!" He called.

"Sorry Bob but you're not cool enough to watch this movie with us."

"Oh fuck you."

They all laughed and Wade sat down next to Bob, putting his orange juice on the coffee table in front of him.

"Alright, now that the mood has been lightened a little bit, what is it you wanted to talk about?"

Sean took a deep breath, "When I tell you guys, you have to promise not to think any different of me. It's still the Sean you became friends with a few days ago."

"Of course. We promise not to think any different of you." Wade put his hand over his heart.

"Okay. You remember when you asked me about me having a demon.?"

Their eyes widened and Wade spoke up, "… Yeah, and I'm really sorry I dumped that question on you."

"It's okay, and I'm sorry for blowing up on you. Well, you… he… wasn't wrong."

"Wasn't wrong? You mean, you…"

"Yes. I have a real demon inside me and his name is Anti."

He waited for that to sink in when Bob soon spoke up, "You have an actual demon… Living in your soul…?"

"I sold my soul for a demon so not in my soul but my entire being and the deal with Mark, Anti decided that if I was going to have friends, he was going to introduce himself."

"That's one hell of an introduction."

"Yeah, he doesn't play nice. Even when I beg for him not to hurt anyone he won't do it. When I was young, I was picked on a lot at the schools I went to so I decided I was going to summon a demon to protect me and show them a lesson. It backfired when I realized that I had replaced my soul WITH the demon and the deal was he could do whatever he wanted as long as he carried out that order. He feeds on anger so whenever I get mad he'll take over and use my body as his plaything without me having any say or memory of his actions."

There was a short pause when Wade quietly asked, "Can… Can we see your demon?"

"I don't think you can anymore. Felix helped me perform a ritual to trap in in this amulet to stop him from interfering with my life and harming others." He pulled the amulet out of his shirt to show them.

"How has that been?"

"Very successful. Haven't seen him, heard him, or felt him. As long as I wear the amulet at all times it'll stay that way."

"That's good. I'm glad everyone is okay."

Sean's breath got caught in his throat when he remembered that wasn't completely true.

"Sean? You've gone pale. Are you okay?"

Sean jumped a little, "Um… Not everyone who's encountered him… has made it…"

They paled as well, "Is… Is someone…"

"Jake was Anti's least favorite of the people I met."

"Oh shit…"

"Anti was kind enough to give him a proper burial though… in my backyard. I can only hope that my parents don't decide to go outside and investigate the mound of dirt."

"Oh no… Well, he's been taken care of now so we don't need to worry about the body count." Wade was trying to find the silver lining to all of it.

"There's nothing to worry about now, though, right?"

Sean played with his hands nervously, "Well, before Felix and I did the ritual, Anti took over again and I ended up punching Mark in the face out of anger. So that's something to worry about."

"He knows about your demon though, surely he wouldn't blame you for that."

"I don't think it was obvious. I'll have to see him again today to talk to him about it and apologize."

"We can do that right now. C'mon, we'll be there to support you." They both stood up while Sean stayed seated.

"I'm sure his parents are preparing a restraining order against me right now. They were there when I punched him and they were NOT happy."

"Oh. Um. Maybe Bob and I can distract them while you go talk to him."

"Distract them?" Bob was whispering to him, "We're not in some action movie; I don't think they'll want to leave Mark's side anyway."

"I can hear you Bob." The green haired Irish man stood up, "I should talk to them as well, anyway. Maybe they're willing to listen."

"Then let's head over there and fix what's broken!" Wade said enthusiastically.

At the hospital, they knocked on Mark's door and waited for the "Come in!" Once it was said, Sean carefully walked into the room, quickly met with the intense glares of Mark's parents. He stopped where he was.

"Hey, again," He said nervously, "I'm just here to apologize for everything that happened the other day. It was out of line, I wasn't in my right mind, and I didn't handle it appropriately."

Their eyes looked a little softer.

"You don't have to apologize, Sean." Mark responded from his bed. "I know that wasn't you, Sean wouldn't punch me."

Sean smiled and walked over to gently hug him around the neck. Mark returned it with a firm hug around the waist.

"Well, if Mark can forgive you, then we can, too."

Sean smiled in their direction, relief flooding his system.

"We trust his judgement and if he's sure that you really weren't yourself in that moment then we can forgive that, too. But we ask that it doesn't happen again."

"I can definitely promise that. It won't ever happen again."

"Thank you. That's a lovely necklace by the way," His mother pointed to his amulet, "Where did you get it?"

"Felix got it for me as a gift." He put it back under his shirt.

"Well, he's got excellent taste. It really brings out your eyes."

"Thank you." He smiled then turned back to Mark, "How are you feeling? Are you doing better?"

"Yeah, a lot better. My condition has been at a standstill for a couple of days and they decided I was safe to leave tomorrow if I wanted."

Sean just smiled and gave him another tight hug, startling him before hugging back.

"That's great, Mark!" Wade cheered.

"Awesome! Want to hang out at my place with everyone else when you're discharged? It'll be like a 'welcome back from the hospital' sort of thing." Bob chuckled.

He chuckled back, "Yeah! That sounds like fun! But on one condition. There HAS to be pizza and junk food. The food here sucks."

"Of course! Wouldn't be a party without any of that."

"Cool! I'll be there."

The rest of the day was spent getting Bob's house ready for the party they planned to throw for Mark the next day after school. Wade and Sean ended up staying at his house that night after spending hours setting it up and being too tired to go back home. Sleeping proved to be difficult seeing as how the three of them were excited to be seeing Mark out of the hospital again and having a lot of people over for an awesome celebration party.

A lot of the next day was spent giving people invitations to the party, a lot of which agreed, and then waiting for 7pm to roll around. The wait made the day crawl by until Sean was reminded of his crime.

He heard a voice behind him say, "Hey, have you guys seen Jake? I didn't hear from him over the weekend."

He felt his face drain of color and was a little short on breath.

Wade rubbed his back, "Everything's okay, Sean, just breathe and relax."

"Excuse me, have you guys seen Jake? I haven't heard from him since Friday."

Sean was a statue and couldn't find his voice.

Bob spoke up, "Uh, no, sorry."

"Okay. Thanks anyway."

They left and Sean took a deep breath.

"We won't let anything bad happen to you, Sean," Bob whispered to him, "You're secret is safe with us."

The reassurance helped but he was still more or less numb from his racing thoughts for most of the day.

"I just remembered. Jake had friends. Where are they?" Wade piped in.

They began looking around in curiosity when Sean spotted them. "There they are, they're walking to their next class and… glaring at me…"

"I guess they haven't noticed his disappearance yet. That's good, we have time to rehearse before they corner us with a million questions."

"Yeah… I guess so. I'll be sure to play it cool when that time comes.


	11. Chapter 11

Everyone had made it to Bob's house except for Mark and were enjoying the food, games and movies while they waited for his arrival. Sean focused on the party to keep his mind off of the classmate earlier today who was thankfully not here.

" _ **Do you know what happened to Jake?"**_

" _ **Yes. I killed him with my own bare hands."**_

He nervously downed his punch, nearly choking on it as he tried desperately to shoo away the fresh memory.

' _The party. Look how much fun everyone's having, nothing's wrong right now, you're okay. Don't think about the past.'_

He smiled and walked through the living room, hearing various people shout various things from different parts of the house.

"You can't hold onto the tower when you pull a block out, that's cheating!"

"The life of a wizard seems so much easier than the life of a human. I'd give anything to be one right now."

"Dude! Watch me down this entire bottle of vodka!"

"You will do no such thing!" Bob snatched the bottle out of the guy's hand, "Do that with your own bottle but this is for everyone."

He poured some into the punch bowl and set it back into the fridge.

"How are you enjoying the party, Sean?" Wade shouted over the music.

"Awesome! This is just what I needed. A good distraction from everything that's happened. It feels like months but it's been less than a week, can you believe it?"

"I hear ya. Well, kind of." They both laughed, "The last few days have felt so long and when you think about it, not a lot happened at all."

"I know, it's insane. Hey, I'm going to get myself another cup. You want anything?"

"No thanks, I'm good. I better keep myself sober for Bob and everyone else. But you? You deserve it."

"Alright then. Let me know if you change your mind then we can have a drinking contest!"

He punched my shoulder, "You're on!"

Sean laughed as he made his way to the punch bowl. He picked up the ladle and was about to pour himself a cupful until he remembered the bottle of vodka in the fridge. He thought for a second and poured himself half a cup then went to go open the fridge. He looked around for anyone that might be watching before filling the rest of his cup with vodka, putting the bottle back where it was and closing the door before he was caught. He swallowed a big mouthful, cringing at the kick, and then sighing as he felt himself finally begin to relax a little. He continued to finish his cup slowly as he walked around the house, occasionally stopping to talk to someone for a little bit. Though his real focus was alcohol right now, trying to feel something that wasn't anxiety and sickening guilt.

He continued to wander and talk until he finished his cup, definitely a little tipsy at this point, and went back into the kitchen to repeat the process. Half a cup of spiked punch then filling the rest of the cup with pure vodka.

"Sean!"

He froze where he was, about ready to pour the vodka into his cup. Bob grabbed it out of his hand.

"There's already vodka in the punch, why are you putting more in?"

"'Cause I don't want to feel anything right now." His speech was a little slurred.

"You can do that with a healthier habit than alcohol. Besides, I don't think you want to be drunk before Mark gets here.

"But I fuckin' killed someone, Bob!"

Bob's face lost color from the sudden outburst but his scare was short-lived when there was a knock on the door. He put the bottle down on the counter and went to open it.

Mark walked in, arms raised as if in victory and everyone cheered shouting "welcome back!", "You made it!" and "Hey Mark!"

Sean was too busy pouring the vodka in his cup and taking a big swig to cheer with them. But once the burn had faded he rushed to Mark and wrapped his arms around his neck, spilling most of his drink.

"Mark! Y'made it!" He said happily.

"Is Sean already tipsy?" Mark asked.

"Getting there." Bob replied.

"Imma light weight, don't judge me!"

"Aw man, now I want to join in." Wade whined.

Bob's response was drowned out by Sean talking to Mark, "How you feelin'? Better?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling much better. Especially now that I'm somewhere that isn't a hospital bed."

"Well, c'mon! Let's get some food and drinks!" He tugged him into the kitchen.

Once they got everything they wanted they sat down to watch a couple of movies with everyone else that was sitting in front of the TV. Just laughing and commenting, with Sean drinking a little bit too much…

Sean woke up with a splitting headache. He groaned and turned onto his back, looking at the clock.

"4AM? Fuuuuuck." He rubbed his head.

"Morning sleeping beauty. How you feeling?" Mark asked groggily.

"Like shite. Ugh, I feel sick." He put his hands on his stomach. "Wait, why are you in bed with me anyway?"

"First of all, we're clothed so nothing happened last night. Second, you wanted to sleep and tugged me into bed with you."

He was almost speechless, "Tell me more about last night later when I don't feel as shitty."

"You had a LOT of vodka last night. I think you drank all of that and the punch."

"How many bottles were there?"

"Three."

Just hearing it made him nauseous.

"This is the part where I get you some painkillers and water, right?"

"Please."

He got up off the bed and left to go find the necessities. He could hear a quiet conversation begin between Mark and Bob soon after.

"Why did you guys sleep in MY room?!"

"I'm sorry, Bob, he wanted to talk to me about something and that's where he lead me. By the time we were done talking, he was out like a light. If I had known he would fall asleep as soon as he finished talking I would have taken him to the guest room."

There was a short pause, "He wants painkillers, right?"

"Yeah."

"It's in the cabinet in that bathroom."

"Thanks man."

Silence again until he came back with the water and tablets.

"Thanks Mark." He took the tablets and swallowed the water.

He laid back down and Mark sat on the edge of the bed next to his hip. "Do you remember what you said last night?"

"Oh no. What did I say?" He put his hands over his face.

"You were telling me constantly, "I want to tell you I love you every day and cuddle and kiss you morning and night." You were telling me that like I wasn't going to take you seriously unless you repeated yourself."

Behind his hands, his face was surely red.

"It was pretty hilarious."

He moved his hands to see Mark's face.

"It was like watching a child cling onto their mother and kiss them constantly."

"Wait, 'Kiss'?"

"Oh, yeah, you kissed me a couple of times, too."

"Oh nooooo." He put his hands back on his face.

"Don't worry, I didn't take you seriously."

"You didn't?"

"Nah. I knew you were drunk off your ass."

"Okay, that's good." He turned onto his side unsure if he should feel sad or relieved.

"Is there something wrong with that?" Mark looked concerned.

"N-No, just thinking."

There was a short pause.

"Wait… Sean, were you…?" He asked softly.

Sean distracted himself with the blanket.

"Did you mean that?"

Sean's cheeks turn a little pink, "I-I don't know…"

"Well, whether you did or not that's perfectly fine with me."

Sean turned onto his back to look at him properly and they just sat like that, looking at each other. Neither of them were sure of their feelings for the other but the thought of being an item didn't feel wrong. After a couple of minutes, Mark began to slowly lean down.

It didn't get too far before Sean shoved Mark away and he ran out the door to race into the bathroom and shove his head in the toilet bowl. Mark raced after him and made it to the room just in time to hear him vomit. He sat behind him and held his head steady until it was nothing but dry heaving and coughing. Once it was all over Mark handed him a couple of squares of toilet paper which he used to wipe his mouth then flush the toilet, gasping for air.

"So much for that." Sean laughed.

Mark laughed with him and rubbed his back. "You okay?"

"Much better. I think I'm going to head home."

"Right now? It's 5AM."

"That should be fine. I want to be home right now and my parents should be awake by the time I get there."

"Well let me drive you there. I'm about ready to get home, too."

"Alright."

They said goodbye to Bob on their way out and Mark started the car.

"So… does this mean we're…" His voice trailed off to let Mark fill in the blanks.

There was a short silence, "I'm not sure. Do you… want to be more than friends?"

"I… I think I do. It feels right."

They smiled at each other and Mark pulled up to Sean's house.

"Alright, well, I guess I'll talk to you later then."

"Okay. Have a good day."

"You too, feel better."

Sean left the car and walked into the house.

"Welcome home, Sean! How was the party?"

"Hey, mom! The party was awesome! Mark is in great shape again and everyone had fun. But I ended up getting ill when I woke up."

"Aw, I'm sorry. Go lie down and I'll bring you some soup and medicine."

"Okay, thanks mom."

Lying in bed, he received texts from Bob and Wade asking him if he made it home safe and he told them he had and was in bed.

"Tired or feeling sick?"

"Feeling sick. Got a wicked hangover."

"I found the empty vodka bottles. I guess that was you?"

"Yep, sorry about that."

"It's fine. I really bought them for the party I didn't think you'd be the one to finish it all off though."

He was about to reply when his father walks in. He quickly set his phone down and sat up.

He stood at his bedside, "Did you have sex last night?!" He suddenly shouted pointing a finger.

"What? No, I didn't."

"Then why did you look so damn proud of yourself when you walked in?!"

"I had a good time at the party."

"I think you're lying to me. You better tell me the truth or you're not getting your fucking phone back." He snatched his phone off the nightstand and put it in his pocket.

"I swear I didn't have sex!"

"No man walks through a door like they're the shit just because they 'had a good time at the party.'" He then left the room slamming his door closed on his way out.

Sean rubbed his face and groaned in frustration. He perked up again when his mother walked in with a tray holding a glass of water, soup, and medication.

"Goodness. What happened there?"

"He thinks I had sex at the party and when I told him no he didn't believe me."

"Well, did you?"

"No! I swear to god I didn't have sex last night. I was there only for Mark."

She examined his face, "Alright, I believe you. I'll go talk to your father about it."

"Thanks mom."

She set the tray down and left the room closing the door.

He took the painkillers and anti-nausea before sipping on his soup. Seeing as how he didn't have a computer or a phone to keep himself entertained, he simply just looked around and fantasized about his current relationship with Mark.

' _So, does this mean we're…'_

' _I'm not sure. Do you want to be more than friends?'_

' _I… I think I do. It feels right.'_

He smiled at the recent memory and thought about what they could do as a new couple the next time he sees him. His thoughts were innocent enough, holding hands, embracing each other, cuddling, talking, stuff like that. But soon it escalated to more… adulterated moments. He could feel his face burn, his heart and stomach flutter, and the blood drain downwards. He rubbed his thighs together to try and will it away but it only served to create friction, making him gasp quietly. He ignored it and continued to eat his soup, directing his thoughts to a less sexy direction. This ultimately led to his least favorite memory. He froze and turned his attention back to the window.

He stood up and stood in front of the dirty glass pane to stare at the mound as if planning his next move with the victim. He soon realized that standing still in front of a window and eating soup was probably a little creepy to anyone who might see and suspect something and he wasn't ready to face the police and jail just yet. He sat back down on the bed and glanced over at the hoodie covering what used to be a functioning piece of technology.

' _I could probably go and get myself a new PC today if I have the money for it.'_

Once he finished his soup, he gathered his belongings and left early for school.

"Bye mom! Bye dad! I'm going to school!"

"Hon, are you sure you want to go this early? And I think you should rest a little bit longer."

"Don't worry, I'm feeling much better. I just can't wait to see my friends again."

"Alright. If you think you'll be feeling up to it then have a good day, honey!"

"Thanks, you too!"

On the way, he stopped by a convenience store to pick up a notebook and pencil.

He was the first to enter his classroom and he sat in his favorite spot to draw and wait for his classmates.

His once depressing and dark art turned into light and hope. Instead of drawing tombstones and loneliness he was drawing his friends and GTA 5. He drew everyone smiling and posing as a group for a photo, chuckling as he drew a goofy face on Wade. His hand seemed to have been moving on its own as if the inspiration and ideas where reaching his arm faster than his mind's eye. Taking advantage of the rare occasion to draw something different and making each movement softer, slower, happier. He soon found himself drawing him and mark holding hands. He let himself blush as he continued.

Just as he finished, Mark had walked into the room sitting next to him.

Sean couldn't hold back the smile on his face, "Hey."

"Hey." He smiled back. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better. What about you?"

"Pretty good. I took a nap and dreamt of you and I watching a movie."

"Well it looks like we'll need to make that happen. Would you like to come to my house tonight?"

"I'd love to. What movie are we watching?"

""How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days."" He laughed.

"Sean, you can't lose me in 10 days. You can't lose me ever." He rubbed his shoulder.

His laugh died in his throat and he smiled like an idiot at the comment and the touch.

"Everyone please be seated, class is starting."

The lecture began and they looked at their own desks. Sean took the time to do a little math with the money he's earned in the last few years and wasn't too thrilled with the result.

' _Okay, maybe a cheap laptop instead.'_

A white square was dropped on his math equation and he looked at his boyfriend, who excitedly pointed at the white square. He unfolded the piece of paper and read _'I love you, Sean'_ in not-so-great handwriting. He held back a schoolgirl giggle and wrote his own message to send back.

'I love you, too, Mark'

'Should I bring wine for the movie?'

'Yeah, that would be nice. I'll make us a meal.'

'You can just make popcorn.'

'Popcorn and wine? What kind of boyfriend are you?'

'Okay, okay. Do you want me to help you with the meal? I got some made chef skills.'

'That's good because I don't know how to cook.' He was just passing the message along when-

"Sean and Mark! Would you like to read your conversation to the class?"

There was no hesitation for the response, "Nah, I think we'll just go to the principal's office."

There wasn't a word uttered when they both got up and left the room.

"I was trying to tell you that I can't cook." Sean broke the silence in the hallway.

"Don't worry, I'll teach you." He pulled him close and pecked the top of his head.

He hugged back just before they walked into the office.

"Sean, you're back. With Mark? What happened?"

They sat down in the comfy chairs, "We… We were caught passing notes."

Mark winced at the phrase, the situation just now hitting him.

"Mark? This isn't like you. Why did you do it?"

"We got excited about today's plans and couldn't wait to talk about it."

"I see. I'm sure this was something you could have waited until in between classes to talk about."

"Yes, sir, it was. I'm sorry Principal Michaels."

"I really don't want to see you in here again. You're one of my star students. You work hard and I would hate for you to ruin your reputation over something as menial as inattentiveness."

"I know. It won't happen again."

"I sure hope not. And Sean? You may still be fairly new to the school but I'm not opposed to Saturday morning detention if you come back to the office a third time."

"I understand."

"Alright. I'll leave you two off with a warning. You may go back to class."

"Thank you, principal Michaels. Have a good day."

They left the room and continued on with their day.

Mark decided to follow Sean outside for lunch.

"Wouldn't you rather eat lunch with Wade and Bob in the lunch room?"

"I've always done that before I met you and now that we're officially together I think it's time I eat with you. Or would you rather be alone?"

"No! No. Sorry, I guess I'm not used to people wanting to hang out with me. It's always been 'don't get too close to him he's really weird'"

"Well I don't think you're weird and neither do Wade or Bob."

"And that's always refreshing. Thank you for giving me a chance, Mark." He opened his lunch bag, internally celebrating to see his sandwich.

"It's no problem at all. I'm just glad you accepted our friendship. It was starting to look like you really didn't want friends."

"Well, you know, gotta keep a promise, right?"

"I wouldn't want to keep a promise like that, that just sounds unbelievably lonely and sad."

"Gee thanks, asshole." He laughed before taking bite.

"You're welcome, dear."

They continued to talk, the subject switching from plans to food to games then finally to movies.

"What movie were we watching the night I got drunk anyway?"

"The Star Trek series. We didn't get very far, though. People started falling asleep or walking away to do something else. And then you tugged on my arm to talk to me upstairs."

"And then I told you that I loved you and we cuddled all night."

"And…" Mark put his hand on Sean's knee, "We never had the chance to have a proper kiss."

Sean's heart picked up speed. "No, we didn't."

There seemed be a brief telepathic conversation consisting of _'Are we doing this?' 'Do you want to do this?' 'Yeah, I do.'_ Before they began to lean forward. Their lips were inches apart when the doors opened and students came pouring out from the building. In the flood were the two friends they were hoping to see after the kiss. But the conversation was fun as always and they mentally planned for their next opportunity.


	12. Ch 12

They sadly didn't have an opportunity for the rest of the day but they happily began their walk to Sean's house holding hands.

"Did you know that you are my first ever boyfriend?" Mark squeezed his hand.

"And you as well."

They stopped to look at each other, their faces soon closing the space between them.

"Hey! Sean!"

Still no contact.

' _Dammit. What now-'_

Sean quickly let Mark go to stare in fear of a familiar face charging toward him.

"Come back here, you fuckin' wannabe!"

Mark tried to protect him only to be roughly shoved to the side. His favorite blue hoodie lifted him off the ground and closer the scary man's face.

"I know you did something." His Irish heart thundered in his ears almost missing the question, "What did you do?!"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about! Let me go!" This would be the only time the demon was wished upon by the man who he cursed himself with.

"Bullshit. I saw you walk into his house and now he's not here and he won't answer his phone. What the hell did you do to him?!"

The heart once pumping blood like an open water faucet has now stopped dead in its tracks to drop into his stomach. Making him feel ill.

"Hey! Back off man!" Mark punched him in the temple, "He didn't do anything now leave him alone!"

He couldn't catch himself when his feet suddenly connected with the ground again, watching Jake's goon run off in the opposite direction.

"Sean? Love? Are you okay?"

He was pulled to his feet but still not steady enough to hold himself up and ended up clinging to his protective boyfriend as he was carried back to his place. His mind finally clears when Mark opens the door.

"Sean? Why is this man carrying you?" His mother asked.

"I'm Sean's-"

"Friend! My friend. This is Mark."

He felt Mark's body language change and a quick glance directed at him.

"Mark! Hello! Welcome to our home!" She awkwardly hugged him with Sean in between, "I'm so glad you recovered and I could finally meet you! Please, join us for dinner."

"I'd love too."

Sean's breath halted for a second. Unable to tell him no.

"So, why are you carrying him again?"

He spoke up before his boyfriend could, "Oh, I just twisted my ankle a little bit. I thought it was bad but now that I'm feeling it I was mistaken." He jumped out of his arms and stuck the landing, "Thanks for carrying me, Mark, you want to go watch that movie now?"

"Sure."

"I'll let you boys know when dinner's ready."

"Thanks mom!"

They agreed on a movie and got comfortable on the couch. The bigger of the two tried to put his arm around the smaller, making the other scan their surroundings before relaxing against him. The confused other was about to ask what was wrong when he saw him happily cuddling up to him and decided to let it go.

About thirty minutes later a door was heard and Sean sat up like he heard the fire alarm and stretched his arms above his head.

"I think I'm going to get myself some water."

"Oh, okay."

As he walked away to do something that didn't involve water he realized that his boyfriend was beginning to suspect something and would need to come clean about it at some point.

"Sean? Who's that in our living room?" His father asked quietly.

"That's Mark, he's my friend."

"Why is he here? You sure he's not your boyfriend? I won't have a faggot as a son, you know this."

"No! No! Seriously! He's just a friend. We wanted to watch a movie together and I invited him over."

"That sounds an awful lot like a boyfriend to me. You don't casually watch a movie with another man and say you're just friends. He needs to leave."

"Dad, c'mon, don't make me kick him out. Let him stay just for one night."

"A night?!" He immediately turns to Mark with fire in his eyes, "YOU! LEAVE!"

"Dad! Stop!"

"MY SON IS NOT GAY! LEAVE MY HOUSE AND NEVER COME BACK!"

"Matthew! Don't you dare shout at our guest! He's joining us for dinner!"

But it was too late. Mark was nearly running for his life out the door and back home.


	13. Chapter 13

Mark was halfway home when he stopped to look behind himself, feeling his eyes fill with water but resisting the urge to let them fall. He walked the rest of the way and plastered a smile on his face for his parents.

"Hey! I'm home!" He called.

"Welcome home, honey!"

"Hi, home, I'm dad."

The stupid dad joke helped keep the smile in place as his mother hugged him.

"How was your time with your boyfriend?" She asked.

He fought back the tears when he remembered being yelled at to leave, "It was really nice. We cuddled on the couch and watched a movie."

"Aw, that's sweet. I thought you were going to have dinner there."

"Oh, uh… it turns out they didn't have enough food for a fourth person." It was the best excuse he had.

"Really? Hm, I wonder if they struggle with money. Well, that's okay, I've got plenty of food for you." She smiled and went to go get him a plate of the dinner they had while he was gone.

"Thanks mom."

"You're welcome. You can take that upstairs while you do your homework."

Once he was in his room, he put his plate down and closed the door behind him then quickly pulling out his phone hoping for some kind of explanation from his significant other. No such thing. He decided to send a text of his own.

'Sean? Is everything okay over there? Why did your father shout at me to leave and why did you call me your "friend"?'

He hit send and stood for a few seconds wondering if he'll respond in that moment. When he didn't, he got started on his homework to get his mind off of it for a while. Which proved to be difficult. It would take much longer than necessary to answer each question as his mind switched from focused to distracted, causing him to check his phone a little too frequently. As minutes go by, he felt sicker and sicker. The unknown and confusing ruining his appetite and making him guiltily push his untouched food away from him.

Two hours later, his homework's done, his food still untouched, and still no response. He looked at his plate once more and took a deep breath. Even if he wasn't hungry he still had to eat something before bed. He played a movie on his monitor and began to eat his neglected meal.

A meal and a movie later, still no response. The tears had finally started escaping one at a time.

'Sean, I'm really worried right now. Do your parents not approve of me? Or worse, you being gay?'

He knows that sending two texts when the first hadn't been acknowledged yet was a dick move but he couldn't resist the anxiety slowly taking control of his emotions.

He tried to take a shower to calm down then browsed his social media before attempting sleep. Right away he knew this was going to be a long night but he wasn't going to let himself toss and turn for hours on end. He went into the bathroom to take a Benedryl and laid in bed waiting for the allergy medication to kick in.

Early for school again it looks like. He opened his locker to gather his things and heard footsteps behind him. He didn't think much of it at first until he heard a door open then close with surprising urgency. He whipped around, _'looks like they walked into the bathroom.'_ Getting curious, he opened the door and gasped.

Sean stood in front of the mirror digging a knife into his wrist.

Mark stood frozen feeling tears welling up once again. Seeing blood trickle from his hand is what helped him snap out of his horrific trance and lunge for the knife, grabbing it and throwing it… somewhere… before grabbing the bleeding wrist to hopefully stop blood flow.

"SEAN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! THIS ISN'T WORTH IT!"

"Tell me what is." His response came weak and depressed.

Looking at his face he felt his heart shrivel. His eyes lost all hope and life, his skin already pale.

"I need to call 911."

He let go of his wrist to grab his phone, staining everything he touches.

"911 what's your emergency?"

"Hello? My friend is…"

He looked to see his new lover lying motionless on his back, a pool of red steadily growing in size.

"… Dead…"

He couldn't hear the woman on the other end over the sound of his heart slowly dying. He dropped to his knees and let the tears fall silently.

Just as everything got dark they got bright again. In a different room. He found himself sitting up and looking around. He was back in his bedroom and everything looked normal.

He took a deep breath and let it out in a big sigh. It was just another bad dream. He rubbed his face, feeling wetness, and pulled his hands away to see what was on them. Water? Oh, he was crying. And maybe sweating. He wiped his face dry with his hands and got up to start the day. He checked his phone first, nothing. Just as he feared.

He kept an eye out for Sean when he walked into the building and sat down in his classroom. After a few minutes he pulled out his phone to make time pass faster. But it was no use; he still glanced at the doorway too frequently. After about 10 glances he saw Felix walk into the room and sit next to him.

"Looking for your boyfriend?"

"Yep. His father kicked me out of the house last night and I tried texting him when I got home to see if he knew why and what was wrong. He never responded."

He sucked in air through his teeth, "Ouch. That's not good."

The next person to walk into the room was Ms. Lemons, telling everyone to sit and listen.

' _Wha but he's not here… Where is he? Please be at school later today.'_

He didn't even try to listen as he glanced at the door all throughout that hour.

Lunch finally rolled around and he was sitting by himself with his hand on the back of his neck, staring at his meal.

"Mark? What's going on? Where's Sean?" Wade and Bob sat down at his table.

"I don't know. He didn't respond to my text messages last night, he never showed up for any of his classes, and the worst part is his father kicked me out of the house yesterday."

"Why?"

"That was one of my texts. 'Why did your father kick me out? Is everything okay?'"

"He couldn't be one of those guys that just… leave without notice, right?" Bob looked at Wade.

"I don't know. We've only been friends with him for about a week, there're still some things we don't know."

The red-haired man covered his face in sadness, "Maybe he's just absent today."

"Yeah, that's probably it. I'm sure it has nothing to do with yesterday. He probably just got sick at the worst possible time."

They trudged through the day, all of them worried of what the real reason might be and feeling lonely without their energetic, optimistic green bean.

The second gym class was over; he skipped his shower and went straight out the door. Not caring that he might have left something behind. He just wanted to see Sean and ask the questions he so desperately needed answers to. He speed walked into the neighborhood and slowed down to a walk when his house was in sight to catch his breath.

He knocked on the door, "Sean? It's me, Mark."

Said man opened the door, "Mark? Uh, now's not a good time. Can you come back later?" He was already beginning to close the door.

He put his hand on the white finish, "Wait, what's going on? And why are you wearing sunglasses?"

"I'll text you later, I promise." He pushed on the door.

There was no way Mark was going to have the door closed on him this time. He shoved the door open with all his strength, knocking the smaller to the ground with a thud, "You're testing me, Sean. First you don't respond to my texts about yesterday, then you don't show up for school with no notice as to why, and now you're trying to shove the door on my face? What the hell is going on?!"

An unfamiliar voice called from upstairs, "Sean? Is everything okay?"

Mark glanced up stairs then back at Sean.

"Yeah! Everything's fine! Don't worry!" He quickly stood up and began whispering, "Mark I'm sorry, I really am, but I promise I'll explain everything when I get the chance. Just go home, Please."

His face was as red as his hair, so close to shouting hurtful insults. Instead, he let out a low growl and went on his way to go home.

"Hey, honey, welcome home! How was your day today?" His mother called from the living room.

He took a quick deep breath, "It was pretty good. Sean was absent today though."

"Aw, that's too bad, is he sick?"

"Uh… Yeah. Bad stomach flu."

"Oh, that's awful! I hope you're not feeling sick." She walked up to him to feel his forehead. Before she could determine whether or not he had a fever she gasped at his facial expression.

"Mark, what happened? You look so angry."

"Oh, I… just remembered something that made me angry."

"Maybe dinner will help you. It's still fresh and on the table."

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that sounds great."

Both his parents went to go sit at the dinner table and Mark took a deep breath before they followed him. The conversation was very light and happy which improved his mood greatly, but while he wasn't feeling negative feelings his stomach was still affected by it. His mother noticed and spoke up, "Are you sure you're not feeling sick? You haven't eaten anything since you sat down."

"Yeah, I'm fine, I promise, I'm just… stressed. School's getting to me, you know?"

"Well. You know what stressed is backwards, right?" His father chimed in, "Desserts! Why don't we skip straight to the pie you baked tonight, honey?!"

She chuckled, "Alright, but just this once."

That two slices of apple pie truly did help his nerves and he was happier and more talkative until he went to bed and had a good night's sleep.

By the next morning the nerves were back. He repeated the same steps as yesterday. Pull out his phone to look at it without actually looking at it and defeat the purpose of trying to pass the time, and practically stare at the doorway. The 10 minutes of effort he put into it were worth it when he saw the cause of his stress bursting into the room.

"Hey, Mark, how are ya?!" he said as he dropped suddenly into a chair next to him.

"Why are you still wear-"

"That's not important. What is important is that I explain myself before it's too late."

"Before what's too late?"

"Let me just say that whatever you're about to see is not what you think."

"Quit beating around the bush and just tell me already!"

"So, my father kept me home last night because he didn't want to accept the fact that I was gay."

"He found out already?"

"Yeah, he interrogated me for it. Anyway, he made me do a lot of exercises then gave me homework to do for the next two months."

"Homework? What kind of homework can he you give you for this situation?"

"Hey, Sean!" A woman with short brown hair walked into the room, straight up to the green boyfriend, and kissed him on the forehead before going to sit down at her desk.


	14. Chapter 14

The man on the receiving end lost all color and the man on the viewing end was stuck between bawling his eyes out and exploding in pure rage at his soon-to-be-ex. He did a little bit of the latter.

"It's not what I think, is it? Because it looks a lot like you were cheating on me!"

"No! I promise! This wasn't my decision! She's my homework."

Red haired man's face was blank.

"He found a woman who lusted after me and was willing to turn me straight "again". The homework part of this is doing sexual things with her which I refuse to do but she's very persistent on."

"Your father is trying to turn you straight?"

"Yep, because he thinks I just haven't had a good fucking with a woman yet, pardon my French."

"This guy is the douchebag of the earth."

"Oh trust me, I know."

Class soon began and he found himself glancing at the woman as if he was expecting her to jump on his lover during class. Towards the end of class he actually caught her blowing Sean a kiss. He glared at her to show he had seen the action and her response was an eye roll and a wave of the hand as if to say, 'Whatever. Stop being a drama queen.'

When it didn't happen again, he started to relax until second class ended and he saw Ms. Fake Girlfriend walk out of the room next to the smaller man. The air was caught in Mark's throat when he realized they were in the same class together all. The. Time. He silently begged the clock to skip his next class.

Signe, of course, sat next to the man who was unfortunate to be in this situation. He turned his attention away from her, flinching away when her hand tried a flirty action with his exposed wrist. Lecturing was heard and ignored as the pen wrote down a story. A story of why and unpleasantries. Sean really just wanted to see his real relationship partner again.

They were finally dismissed and distance was immediate. Fast-walking to the locker for his lunch then trying to hide in the crowd on the way to the bench outside. He didn't waste time when he saw him and hugged him.

"I want all of this to stop so I can be happy with you."

His lovers fingers massaged his scalp and they smiled at each other.

"You're not the only one. Could we try and talk to your father about this? Maybe he'll understand and back off or maybe your mother will defend us?"

"My father wouldn't even want to listen to us. My mother? I haven't thought about it."

"Speaking of your mother, what happened when I came to your house and you told your mom I was your friend?"

"Well, if my father is so disapproving and my mother MARRIED a man like that, who's to say she doesn't approve of it either? I mean, something's keeping them together. It could be their stance on gays who knows, and of all the people to disapprove of my sexuality it would kill me if it was my mother."

"You're mother seems so nice and understanding. Why don't you at least try and talk to her? Without your father being within earshot of course."

Sean's mouth opened but whatever comeback he was trying form in his mind was now lost in a jumbled mess in his throat. He closed it again and stood there thinking about his mother. Mark had a point, she was indeed very understanding and sweet. Always the person to come to whenever you were feeling down or confused without worrying about judgement… Maybe…

"I'll think about it-"

"There you are, Sean!" He internally sighed at the familiar voice, "You left the room so fast I lost sight of you. Why don't you come in to eat your lunch? You'll be bothered by bugs and dust if you stay out here."

His mind come up blank for possible excuses to stay outside and decided to give in just this once. "Alright, I'm coming. I'll talk to you later, Mark."

The red-haired man's face fell. "Oh. Okay."

The Irish man tried to shoot him an apologetic expression before he disappeared into the building with his "girlfriend."

She sat them down at the table where Bob and Wade were. Which was unexpectedly nice of her.

"Sean! Hey! Where were you yesterday?" Wade started.

"Sorry for the sudden disappearance, I had some family issues that needed tending to."

"Ah. Well, I hope everything's okay. Who's your new friend?"

"Bob, Wade, this is Signe. Signe, these are mine and Mark's friends, Bob and Wade."

"Nice to meet you guys! Sean has told me a lot about you two."

There was a very quick look of shock on Bob's face before he said hello back. "Hey, Sean," He whispered, "can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah."

They walked out to the hall and far away from anyone listening.

"Okay," Bob rubbed his face, "So… when were you going to tell us you had a girlfriend?"

He paled, "No! No! It's not like that! Please believe me when I say that she's just a student here and I have no relationship with her at all. I still very much love Mark."

"Then why is she giving me the vibe that you two have a connection?"

"This is going to sound weird but my dad is a homophobic dick and is trying to turn me straight."

"… 'Turning you straight'…"

The look on his face didn't bring him any hope.

"Don't worry I believe you I've just never heard of someone doing that…"

"I want to be outside with Mark but I'm deciding to give Signe a chance."

"A chance at what?"

"Maybe she'll see and understand that I'm truly happy with Mark and we'll be good friends instead?"

"That is some wishful thinking but I won't stop you."

"Alright, thanks."

They walked back to their table just as Singe was showing Wade her artwork.

"Guys! She's a really talented artist! Look what she's done!"

They looked through her many pictures together, complimenting and commenting and soon the conversation bled into what Sean was more interested in. Signe sadly sat quietly for most of it but was able to jump in at some points.

Once lunch was over, everyone left to go outside for recess and He wanted to follow his friends but was held back.

"Wait, don't go. I want to stay inside where it nice and quiet and get to know you some more."

"I don't think there's anything else you could know about me. I like games, I don't like people, and I'm gay. Meaning, I like guys and I have a boyfriend."

"I'm sorry but I can't accept that." Internal sigh, "Come on, sit back down."

He unwillingly sat back down.

"I do want to ask you about the people thing. Are you sure you don't like people?"

"Just a few weeks ago I didn't have anyone and didn't want anyone. The only reason why I have people now is because Mark wouldn't give up and would try his best to be my friend."

"That doesn't sound like what a good person would do. I mean, forcing friendship? Why would you want to stick around if he doesn't accept your wishes?"

"I know it sounds bad but he means well and it was probably a good idea he forced it on me. It brought me out of the shell I closed myself in for two years."

"I don't mean to be rude but I don't think forcing something, whether it be good or bad, is something I'd want to be exposed to. I'm scared I would lose my sense of self and forget what made me me me. Aren't you afraid of that?"

"Actually, I think it reminded me what I used to be AND taught me a new thing about myself. I never would have guessed that I was gay but I was spending more and more time with Mark and things kept clicking and eventually I was feeling something that wasn't hate or annoyance anymore. It's so refreshing and something I'd never thought I'd feel again."

Signe was quiet for a second, deep in thought perhaps, "That's interesting."

On their way to class afterwards, walking passed Mark almost felt like a sad goodbye to something. The thought of their relationship being in danger made his heart clench.

Signe was already in the computer room staring a new art project. Sean found himself standing still watching over her shoulder, seemingly mesmerized by the work being put into it.

"I know you're behind me. You can sit down you know."

"Oh, sorry."

Once he had sat down, he felt something on his leg. Bending over to see what was there, he ends up smacking his forehead against the table. The sound of laughter by his classmates muffled by the growing headache he just gave himself.

"Oh honey!" She grabbed his head and kissed where the bruise was forming, "Are you okay? Do you need to see the nurse?"

He jumped away from her, "No, I'm fine. I just have a headache is all."

"Alright, that's good to hear." She stroked his cheek before going back to her drawing, which was starting to look familiar to him.

He shifted to get comfortable again and started up the monitor for class. The teacher soon walked in and was lecturing but that didn't stop her from making another art project or Sean from looking at his twitter, tumblr and Instagram.

It was happening again. That weird tickle at his leg. This time he was wary of the table and instead leaned back to peek below and see a hand.

Signe. Of course, who else?

He took her hand and placed it back on her table where it's supposed to be. But couldn't take his hand back. She was holding it… Great…

Finally, gym class, he can see Mark again and explain what happened at lunch.

"Hey, Sean."

"Mark!" He quickly yanked off his shirt, "I need to talk to you."

"I was hoping to ask you a question, too."

"Ask your question first."

"I want to ask what happened at lunch earlier."

"Perfect! That was exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. I've decided to give Signe a chance so I had lunch with her-"

He slammed his locker, "'Give her a chance'? I thought you didn't want to be with her. What the hell is going on?"

"Don't worry, this doesn't mean anything. I thought I'd try and show her and explain to her that I am indeed gay and I do love you and she could be a friend instead."

"Sean, she gave me a look this morning. She doesn't care if you love me or not. She's going to go through with her plan."

"Yeah, I got that vibe, too. But hey, you taught me something not too long ago."

"What?"

"Don't give up and you'll succeed. You didn't give up when you wanted to be my friend and look where we are now?"

He sighed knowing he made and excellent point, "Alright, go ahead. Let me know if anything happens."

"Don't worry; I'm sure everything will work out soon!"

He gave him a quick peck on the cheek and walked away to the gym, immediately blushing when he realized what he had done.

They paired up together just like he wanted and the day ended with a clean shower and walking together to leave the building.

"Sean! Wait!"

They stopped briefly and turned around.

"Hey! I haven't seen you in a while. How have you guys been doing?" Felix asked.

"Everything's been great! Thanks for asking. I was absent yesterday because of family issues so it's not like you missed too much. I'm still wearing the amulet"-he pulled it out of his shirt for a second just to show him- "and nothing has happened since. How have you been?"

"That's good to hear, I'm doing great! Mind if I talk to you in private?"

"Uh, sure. What's up?"

The walked VERY far away from the school and students to have their talk.

"Now," He started quietly, "I've been too busy to catch you earlier about what you told me at the party and I'm not sure if you remember very well either."

Sean thought back to the amount of vodka he drank and tried to recall every detail, "Ummm… I remember putting more vodka into my punch cup… and you stopped me. Is that what you're talking about?"

"Yes, exactly that. Do you know what you told me?"

"Uh, I really didn't want to feel anything because I-" He heart stopped –"I killed someone. Oh god, why did you have to remind me of that? I was doing so well forgetting about it and did I seriously tell you that?!"

"Shh. Yes, and that's okay because I know you were talking about your demon but I need to know who that was and why."

"It was...-" He swallowed down the bile in his throat-" It was Jake."

"Ah, don't need a why for that. Are there any more victims you know of?"

"God, I hope not."

"I'll take that as a no. I just wanted to make sure if I heard right."

"Well, you did. Kind of wish you hadn't."

"Wait! Don't leave without me!"

They both look to see Signe rush over to grab Sean's arm.

Felix has no idea what he's seeing, "… Sean?"

"I can't explain anything right now," He called, "Ask Mark, I told him all about this."

Once he could finally get his footing they had exited school grounds and were now holding hands.

"I was thinking that, when we get home and we have enough free time, we could…" She gently kissed his neck, "You know…"

If the kiss and whispering hints weren't enough, the thought made him shiver from discomfort.


	15. Chapter 15

Walking into his house, they were already greeted by his mother while his father glanced in their direction as if expecting a progress report. He just smiled in his direction as if to say "everything's fine"

He was about to follow Signe upstairs when she gave the flirty "come here" but saw his mom on the couch and wanted to talk to her first.

"Mom, can I talk to you for a second in private?"

"Of course, honey. What's wrong?"

They walked into the master bedroom away from his father.

"Um… Mom, you wouldn't judge me for anything, right?"

"No, why would I do that?"

"And you wouldn't disown me for any reason, would you?"

"I would certainly avoid doing that at all costs. But if you do something like killing another person I don't know what I would do."

He gave a quick nervous laugh, "Yeah, me neither. Anyway, what about my interests or my passions?"

"I don't see what's wrong with that. Sweetie, I don't know what you're trying to ask me because it just sounds like you're testing me. Are you trying to tell me you did something illegal?"

' _Let's pray to god you don't ever have to know about that.'_

"No! Not at all. I just… dad doesn't approve of Mark."

"You're friend? Yeah, he was shouting about how you weren't gay and kicked him out of the house. I don't know WHAT got into him, but it's very odd he would have the slightest idea that you were gay."

He stood silent. His heart slowly dropping.

"Oh no… Honey… are you…?"

Tears began to form.

"I see. So, what he said was true? You're gay and Mark's your boyfriend?"

Silence.

"Well, there's no shame in that."

It felt like he could finally breathe again.

"And it was very wrong of your father to yell at you like that. Tell me, do you love Mark?"

"So much, mom! We haven't been together for long but he's amazing and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with him! I love him so much!"

She smiled, "I'm glad you're so happy. Let's go talk to your father."

His smiled dropped. He would have stopped her but she was dragging him along downstairs while frozen in fear.

"Hey, Matthew, can we talk to you for a minute?"

He begrudgingly put his newspaper down. "What do you want?"

Sean resisted the urge to hide behind his mother.

"I want to talk about Wednesday when you kicked Sean's friend out of the house because you thought he was gay."

"Yeah, I was protecting our house and our son from the devil."

"And I appreciate you being protective of us, but perhaps… could you pull back a little bit?"

There was silence and he took a step back.

"'pull back'? Are you asking me to let us be contaminated by the disease that is sin?!"

"Not be contaminated but be open to it. Having a gay son may not be as bad as you might think."

Never in his life had he felt so betrayed. His blood turned to ice, his heart pounded against his chest, and his eyes trained on the woman he had hoped would save him.

"BULLSHIT!"

The large man stood up and threw his newspaper in her direction without actually reaching her.

"OUR SON IS NOT GAY AND WILL NEVER BE GAY! I DIDN'T MARRY A STUPID PAGAN BITCH!"

She was visibly hurt by this. It shows that she's never stood up to him before and this was the reason why.

Sean continued to step back while looking everywhere he could for a safe place.

"YOU!"

He stopped.

"YOU ARE NOT GAY!" He grabbed his son by the throat, "AND IF YOU ARE I WILL PERSONALLY BEAT IT OUT OF YOU!"

His grip was slowly starting to tighten and he tried his best to free himself before his airway was blocked, "Yes sir, I'm sorry sir."

"Matthew! Stop! He doesn't deserve it!"

He dropped him, "If he's gay then he's been cursed by Satan himself and needs to be killed for his unforgivable sin!"

"But you gave him a task and that was to love the woman you found! He hasn't had a real opportunity to do that just yet, maybe he isn't gay after all and just needs time with Signe."

"You better hope that's all he needs otherwise both of you need to be killed."

He went back to sitting in his chair with his newspaper.

Sean sat up from the floor rubbing his neck and stared as his mother in hurt. By the look on her face she knew what she had done.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?"

She held out her hand to him but he ignored it and stood up on his own, "Yeah, fine."

He didn't even look her in the eye as he pushed passed and went straight upstairs. He entered his room and closed the door behind him leaning against the door.

"There you are." Signe wasn't wearing anything but bra and panties and was sitting comfortably on the bed, "I was wondering when you would come up here, can't keep a lady waiting, you know?"

"Signe, can we not do this?" He walked over to where she was sitting, "There are more pressing matters right now and I know you heard everything."

"Oh come on, I'm sure you can have a little fun." She stood up and put her hands on his chest. It's almost as if she was a robot, only able to respond in one way no matter what you said. Just ignoring you and getting a task done.

When Sean didn't say anything Signe's hand drifted towards his pants gently glided her fingers over his crotch. He flinched but she didn't stop.

"You don't even have to do anything. You can just lay down and relax while I take care of everything. I promise you'll enjoy yourself."

She gave him a sexy smile and led him to the bed. He didn't really have the energy to resist and cause more of a problem than there already was so he let her do whatever. He lied down and she climbed on top to give him gentle kisses around his jaw and ear. He closed his eyes and pretended he was somewhere else. He felt her kisses slowly trail downwards where his shirt was pulled down to reach his chest. This soon led to his shirt being pulled up but not off.

As the kisses changed from gentle and light to hungry and leaving hickeys, her hands would travel from his neck, to his chest where his nipples would be pinched a little, and her lower half would move against him causing blood to rush downwards. He resisted the urge to reach down for it himself.

She must have gotten the message because her lips were giving his abdomen some love when her hands began to mess with the waistband of his jeans. Not really doing anything just tugging on them here and there then dragging them down his thighs. He could feel the throbbing get worse and worse and shifted his legs to distract him a little as his hand unconsciously reached down to pet her head.

When he started feeling her mouth move against his aching bulge he swallowed the moan in his chest and stole a glance. Her backside was up in the air and her fingers made slow work of the button and zipper. It was too much and the moan had come back full force and louder than he had originally thought. He took a deep breath when he felt his pants open and his face burned when fingers began fiddling with his underwear.

He let it out shakily when tongue made contact. At first it was just light licks and hand workings. He let go of her hair and put his hand on the blanket below him to avoid hurting her. The tip was finally in her mouth and his toes curled in his shoes as he took another shaky breath. The movements from her tongue and fingers almost made him want to either push himself away or rock his hips against her mouth.

His hands slowly clenched around the blanket when all of it fit in her mouth. He turned his head from side to side when that familiar tug became noticeable.

"H-Hey, Signe, you might want to stop, I'm starting to get close."

From the looks of it she wasn't planning on slowing down. But he really didn't want it to end like this so he tried again, "Signe, seriously."

Nothing and he was on the edge already. He took a breath.

She stopped. It was out of her mouth and fingers froze.

' _Of all the times to stop on her own she decides now? I almost wish she would continue.'_

"Signe?" He whispered in a hoarse tone.

No words were said. All she did was let go of his aching need, get up to put her clothes back on, and leave the room. He stared at the door in utter confusion before sitting up to redo his pants and pull down his shirt. He would finish himself off right now but the confusion was too powerful to ignore. He let it die down a bit before going downstairs to look for her.

"There he is!" His father's voice set off an alarm bell signaling him to run for his life but didn't get the chance before he… hugged him? "My straight man!"

"Your… I… What?"

"See? I told you all he needed was a little bit of time." His mother spoke up, "He just needed a nfew minutes with her and now he's been turned straight!"

"I'm proud to call you my son!" He let go and gave him a firm pat on the back.

He stood still not sure what happened or where to begin with his thoughts and recent events. He finally spoke up after a few seconds of racing thoughts.

"M-Mom?"

"Yes sweetie?" she called from the living room.

"What… exactly happened?"

"Well you would know better than us."

"I-I guess but did Signe say something when she came down here?"

"Yeah, she said that you two had great sex and you had become straight."

' _We… sex… I'm… straight…'_

"She what?"

"You make it sound like you weren't there at all. Anyway, she left to go home but don't worry you'll see her again."

"Ah… Alright. I'm gonna go take a walk."

"Okay, be safe and don't be out too late I'm making dinner."

He walked outside and looked around hoping to see her before she disappeared. There was no sign of her and because he didn't know where she lived he would have to hope that she was at school on Monday.

' _Well, while I'm out here, I may as well go tell Mark the… good news I guess.'_

His boyfriend answered the door and smiled at him, "Hey, Seany, How are you? You're looking a little flustered there."

"Yeah. I got something to tell you."

"What's wrong? Come sit down. Do you want water?"

"Nah, that's okay, thanks." He walked in and sat on the couch, "I suppose this would be considered good news for us but I'm still really confused and I can't get answers anytime soon."

He sat down next to him, "That's okay, just tell me what you know and we'll figure out details later."

"Well, Signe left my room and, without me in the room, told my parents that I was magically straight."

"… That would mean she did something for it to be a success. What did she do?"

"I'd rather not get into that. All I can say is that hardly anything happened. Far from being 'amazing sex' but she still told them that and left to go home. I don't know where she lives so I can't hunt her down and ask her why yet.

"… Hm… very curious. I wonder why would she do that? Seriously though. What did she do?"

Sean was nervous to say anything, the memory now reminding him of his poor testicles. He opened his mouth to give him the answers when a familiar voice saved him.

"Is that Sean's voice I hear?"


	16. Chapter 16

"Yep! He came to visit us for a bit."

"Hey, Sean!" Mark's mother came over to give him a hug, "I haven't seen you in a while, how have you been? Oh my, do you need ice for that bruise?"

He felt his face not feeling the thing he needed, "Pretty good, how about you? And yeah, I'm fine I don't need ice."

"Well alright then. I've been good, thank you! Come sit and talk with me we haven't had a proper conversation yet."

"Oh," Mark started, "sorry, mom, we were actually going to-"

"Of course!" Sean practically shouted, "I would love to talk to you!"

They walked into the kitchen and sat at the table.

"How's school been?"

"Can't complain. There's a new girl at the school and she seems nice."

"What's her name?"

"Signe. She's from Denmark and it looks like she's taken a liking to me. She once put her hand on my leg and when I bent over to see what was touching me I ended up smacking my forehead on the desk."

Mark's head perked up as if he heard alarm bells as the two laughed. He soon joined them spoke up.

"That's hilarious!" He interjected, "That actually reminds me of a funny picture I took when I was a child. Sean, you want to see the picture? It's upstairs in my room."

"I would but I'm enjoying myself right now. Are you not able to bring it down here?"

"No, it's nailed to the wall."

His mother looked at him, "What are you talking about? The only pictures nailed to your wall are those perverted cartoon girls from japan."

He looked around as if to say 'what? That's not me' but it failed miserably seeing as how his face is the color of his hair.

Sean laughed, "So, what's been going on with you?"

Oh, you know, cooking meals, doing chores, running errands, getting ready for a family party coming soon."

"Oh cool! Anything fun planned?"

"Not a whole lot really just visiting and catching up. If you're thirsty we have Coke in the fridge."

"Thank you." He smiled and stood up.

Just as he grabbed the 2 liter bottle he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder.

"Sean, can we please talk in private?" He whispered.

"I'm enjoying myself talking to your mother right now."

"This is really important to me. You can talk to her later."

He spun around feeling impatient, "There's nothing to talk about, Mark."

There was going to be a response when his mother spoke up again, "If you want you can join us for dinner tonight."

Sean had no chance to react before it was answered for him.

"That sounds excellent, mom! We'll go and get food for you to make dinner with."

The confused visitor was dragged towards the door, "W-What?"

"Thank you so much, dear! Drive safe!"

Sean eventually goes along with it and climbs into Mark's car but there's a strange silence before it's turned on.

"Mark?" Sean speaks up hesitantly, "Is everything okay?"

"Can you please tell me what happened with Signe?"

Sean's face loses color and his stomach turns, "U-Um…"

"Please, Sean. We're a couple we shouldn't be hiding things like this from each other."

He was right. A deep breath before he begins his shameful story. "I was in my room lying on the bed when she climbed on top of me and became… touchy feely for a bit. We both still had clothes on." It wasn't a lie but he didn't want to go into detail.

"Okay. Was… any of it planned or did she ask?"

Looks like he'll have to give some anyway. He swallowed, "N-No. She just guided me to the bed and… there she was…" he fought the urge to cry.

"Clothes were still on?"

"Yes!" He responded a little too urgently, "No actual sex happened."

"Then what DID happen?" Impatience was noticeable in his tone making Sean almost shrink back.

"She… She just used her mouth..." There was no way he was going to give that detail.

It didn't seem like he needed to anyway, he was starting to look upset and sat back in his seat, looking through the windshield, "Did… Did you… enjoy it?" His voice was softer, maybe on the verge of tears himself.

The answer was there but he was terrified to let it be heard by the man he so desperately wants to kiss. He opened his mouth but all that could come out was a choked sob and tears.

He wiped the tears away and took a few deep breaths, "I… Mark, I…"

He didn't have to say much before his lover's face already started to fall.

He continued through the sobs bubbling up his throat, "I'm so sorry, Mark, I should have shoved her off but… I didn't… please… don't-"

He turned his head away to cry silently into his hands. He continued to whisper apologies as warm water stained his cheeks.

A gentle hand was on his thigh, "You want to know where I go when I feel upset and confused?"

The word 'confused' flashed through his mind and he wiped his face dry, "S-Sure."

The car was started and off they went to an unfamiliar path, the ride being awkward having no music and heavy tension.

Once the car stopped a hand obstructed the smaller's view, "Lake moonshine."

A chuckle was the reaction, hopefully easing the air, "Moonshine? Really?"

Chuckle, "I know, it's silly, but it's truly beautiful. It's a little early to see why it's called that but you'll see it soon."

The car door opens and closes, the vibrant red hair coming to view and soon being followed by vibrant green. They stand next to the small body of water and blue eyes survey the area. It was almost too dark to see anything but he could make out what looked to be the start of a thick forest. Not much else beyond that but it was still a very calming space.

For a few minutes they just stood there looking around when Mark spoke up, "I discovered this little spot when I was a child." His voice was soft, "I got into an argument with my father and I ran away. The intention was to never come back, like most kids would do when they're young, but I happened to turn a corner and nearly fall into the water. I decided to admire everything and skip rocks and play with sticks, just whatever was around me, until the moon finally came out and it was like looking through… a mirror… but it wasn't a mirror… my mind was clear and I came back home to apologize. Since then I made this place my permanent escape spot when things got difficult. I'm hoping the magic here will help you the same way."

"Wow, that's amazing. I think it's already working for me. It's very quiet here."

"The moon's about to come out."

Just a couple minutes later, the moon's reflection was seen and the ethereal glow it produced set the place into almost a dream-like state. They stared into the water, the smaller feeling his mind clear before reaching for his boyfriend's hand.

But he wasn't moving.

"Mark?"

"Yeah?" he didn't look at him.

"Is something wrong?"

There was a short silence, "No, I just don't want to move yet."

"Oh, okay." He proceeded to lean against him and put his head on his shoulder.

They stood like that for a minute and Sean decided to finally make his move. He put his hand on Mark's cheek to have him look his way and slowly drew himself closer.

"Sean," his hand was moved, "Not right now, okay?"

"Why not? Haven't we been wanting to do this for a while now? This is the perfect time."

"Well, yes, this is the perfect time to do it, but I think we should wait a little longer." He started walking back to the car.

His heart dropped, unsure of what was going on and upset to hear him say no to a kiss. Nevertheless, he followed back the car and they began the trip towards Mark's place.

"Wait, I thought we were going to get your mom stuff from the store."

"I just said that so I could finally talk to you. We've got plenty of food in the house."

"Ah, okay." He was quiet for the rest of the trip, the air feeling heavy again.

"Welcome back!" His mother called, "Where are the groceries?"

"We decided we were going to let you cook anything you wanted for tonight."

"Ah, okay then. Is spaghetti okay for tonight?"

Sean nodded, "That sounds lovely, Mrs. Fischbach."

She smiled, "Good. I'll let you know when it's ready."

"Thanks mom!"

With that said, Mark was already going up the stairs. The Irishman closed the door behind him and watched as he disappeared into the ceiling, feeling guiltier by the minute. I followed him to his room and knocked on his open door.

"Hey, mind if I come in?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah, go ahead." He sat on the edge of his bed messing with his phone.

His best friend closed the door behind himself and sat in the computer chair from the other end of the room. There was a short silence, neither wondering if there was anything to say or if there should be anything to say. The worried one decided to start.

"Are you mad at me?"

He didn't look up from his phone, "… No… I don't think so…"

"Are you really sad?"

"That's the only thing I can understand right now, that's for sure. I really don't know what I'm feeling. Maybe I just need some time to think."

He leaned back in the chair, "I can give you that time."

He looked up at him, "I meant alone?"

He was about to respond when he got a glimpse of his phone, "… Is that… are you… on a website for people with… relationship issues?" He could barely talk above a whisper.

Mark quickly dropped his phone face down onto his nightstand, the force making him wince. "Uh… Yeah. I am."

"You shouldn't be going to the internet so soon for this kind of thing. We should be talking about this. I swear, I regret my decision, I wish it never happened, I love you and I always will. I don't like Signe like I like you. Please believe me when I tell you that I never want this relationship to end." He fought back more tears but his voice wasn't strong enough.

"Don't worry, I can hear you." He said matter-of-factly.

He went to go sit next to his boyfriend on the bed, "Then please don't be so quick to assume that our relationship is over until we've gotten through this together. Everything will be better soon and we'll be closer than ever because we got through something a normal relationship couldn't. Give us a chance and hope." He put his hand on his shoulder.

"Sean, I hear everything you're saying," His tone never changed, "I'm listening, I really am. I've been thinking a lot in the short amount of time you confessed and I can tell that you're being sincere that you mean well and you truly care about us. You admitted to what happened and you expressed honest regret for your mistake and that's something not a lot do. You have fantastic qualities that I'll never forget and feel very fortunate to experience in a relationship. But, do you remember when I used the word "confused" earlier?"

His heart dropped, "Y-Yeah, I didn't quite know what you meant."

He turned to face him and hold his hand, "I wasn't mistaken when I said that. You say a lot about how you're sorry and your upset about this but what I don't see is a sign that you understand everything that's going on." As he continued the green-haired man's heart got louder as if to block out the words, "Your mouth moves but your eyes don't reflect your words."

"W-What? Are you saying I don't know what I want?" He chuckled nervously his ears ringing, "That's a good joke, you're funny."

Sad brown eyes just looked at him wordlessly. "No, No, it's not true, I know I want you, I love you, I mean it."

No words.

He felt numb. He stood up and looked at his hands, tears making it hard to see but he could tell he was shaking. He'd never experienced anything like this before. His heart was loud, his breaths were quick, it felt like reality was crumbling around him.

He looked at his boyfriend, "Are you saying…" his voice shook terribly, "we can't be together?"


End file.
